Are solar farms built with the landscape in mind?
Absolutely, we work closely with communities to ensure that our solar farms blend in and restore traditional meadows and hedgerows to the countryside. The maximum height of our solar panels is three metres, which is the same as a well-maintained hedgerow. Extensive new hedgerow/tree and wildflower planting also helps local wildlife, in addition to screening views of the solar farm.
Do solar panels create glint and glare?
Solar panels are designed to absorb light not reflect it. The more light a panel absorbs, the more power it will generate. Modern panels are installed with an anti-reflective matte coating, to maximise efficiency, and reduce glint and glare that can be seen on older solar farms.
Why are most solar farms built on agricultural land?
Ground mounted solar is one of the cheapest forms of energy generation, with a fivefold increase in solar capacity is anticipated by 2030 in the Government’s Energy Security Strategy 2022. This cannot be achieved through rooftop and brownfield solar installations alone, as many domestic and industrial buildings either do not have roofs made of suitable material to support a solar system, do not have the infrastructure to export electricity to the grid, or simply present as an unaffordable solution, with initial costs of installation too high for some. As a result, agricultural land is used, without impacting on food security given the ability to still graze sheep/chickens on the farm. If we were to hit our renewable energy targets, we’d use just 0.3% of the UK’s land for solar farms, less than the land mass currently used for golf courses.
Does land used for solar farms reduce food security?
No. The UK Food Security Report states that climate change is one of the largest threats to domestic food production (with a 73% loss of ‘good’ quality farmland predicted by 2050 due to climate change), solar farms provide an opportunity to significantly reduce carbon emissions and tackle this threat. Solar farms provide valuable income for farmers and can still be used for grazing (sheep or chicken) due to the spacing between the rows of panels allowing a high-quality grassland to grow around/underneath the panels. There are many excellent examples of successful sheep and chicken farms across the country that run pastoral farms within an existing solar farm.
How much space will solar farms take up?
Very little. Even under 2050 Net Zero targets, Solar farms would occupy around 0.3% of the UK’s land – less that what is currently used by golf courses.
Once built, will the development be noisy?
Panels are generally static, so do not produce any noise. We undertake a full background noise assessment to ensure any noise that is generated is within acceptable levels. Any items which may generate noise are placed in the centre of the site, away from houses.
Will there be much disturbance during construction?
We aim to access sites and manage all traffic in such a way that it will have a minimum impact on surrounding communities We compose a construction traffic management plan which is prepared with the input from the local Highway Authority.
Will there be fencing around the site?
As is commonplace across farms on the countryside and in allotments, we install a deer fence (wooden posts and wire) around the site in order to keep it secure. The fencing includes mammal gates that will allow small animals to pass through, and our designs include green corridors to ensure free movement of wildlife through the site.
