Solar farms in south Shropshire 'could power quarter of homes in county'
Plans for a fifth solar farm are being drawn up in the Ludlow area and it could power a quarter of the homes in Shropshire, says a local councillor.
Stockport-based Green Energy International has become the latest company to ask Shropshire Council whether it needs to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment with any future planning application.
The company has identified 33 hectares of farm land south of Caynham at Pervin Farm for a 23 megawatt solar farm. And it says the panels would move like sunflowers during the day to follow the path of the sun to generate 25 per cent more power.
Ludlow councillor Andy Boddington said: "The landscape east and south of Ludlow is considered ideal for solar farms because of capacity to connect to the grid at the Squirrel Lane.
"This is connectivity not available in many other areas of the county and in many areas of the country."
This means there is an solar farm at Henley Hall, with a second proposed nearby but is not yet in the planning system.
Another is planned at Greete, while a fourth is under consideration at Rock Farm.
Councillor Boddington adds: "If all are approved, along with the Caynham scheme, there will be around 160 hectares of solar panels east and south east of Ludlow – that’s more than 100 football pitches or two-thirds of the urban area of Ludlow.
"They will generate around 150MW of electricity, enough to power around 40,000 homes, around a quarter of the homes in Shropshire."
The councillor adds that the total impact on the landscape will "need to be carefully assessed, including views from Titterstone Clee and High Vinnals."
The company, in documents due to be lodged on Shropshire Council's planning portal, says the generating station would operate for a temporary time period, approximately 40 years.
It adds that the land "would benefit from a period of soil resting and has the potential to deliver significant biodiversity enhancements including via low intensity sheep grazing amongst the solar arrays."
They add that there is an urgent need for reducing carbon emissions to limit the damaging impacts of climate change. All added up it means that the company does not think it needs them to produce an Environmental Statement to be submitted with the future planning application.
But there would still be an array of technical assessments if and when a planning application is lodged, including an assessment of the amount of glint and glare.
Green Energy International's early assessment is that the site would "only appear to be imitating a pond/lake from a distance and does not look like a solar farm."
But they add that a full assessment on glint and glare would be necessary in order to establish certainty on any mitigation measures that are required, if at all.
