Plans for solar panels at a Powys charity trust's estate have been given the go-ahead
Plans by a Radnorshire charity trust to install a ground mounted array of solar panels to supply renewable energy to its estate, have been approved.
Llysdinam Hall Charity Trust of Newbridge-on-Wye applied for permission to install 11 rows of 32 panels arranged 2-high in portrait over an area of approximately 1500m2.
Applicant Stuart Phillips said the 150kWP ground mounted panels will serve the wider Llysdinam Estate and they will also put in 115m of additional hedgerow and biodiversity improvements.
The plans were recently approved by Powys County Council
The solar panels will be situated on agricultural land in no direct view from any neighbours or public.
A new mixed native species hedge including hazel, hawthorn and blackthorn, will be planted to surround the area to the north, west and east sides and three bird boxes will be added to nearby mature trees.
The solar array has been designed to serve a newly consolidated electrical grid across the Llysdinam Estate that will include the main house, farm, scientific building and other ancillary buildings and demands, in order to reduce the estate’s carbon and ecological footprint.
It will work in conjunction with the estate’s existing hydroelectric scheme and a new battery energy storage system, to be installed within the existing central plant room.
It is estimated that the proposed solar and battery system will reduce the estate’s grid consumption by approximately 67% saving over 13,000kg of carbon emissions annually.
The installation of the array is central to the Llysdinam charitable trusts ambitious carbon saving program and would “contribute to the achievement of sustainable development and climate change mitigation”.
The estate farm has a number of south facing roofs which were considered ahead of the ground mount option for the solar panels, but they were assessed to be not structurally adequate for the installation of solar photovoltaics.
The roofs of Llysdinam house and outbuildings were also disregarded due to the buildings historic importance, as was a ground mounted option in the estate to the south of the main house which would be seen from the B4358 to Newbridge on Wye.
