Solar farms

Solar farms are designed to harness energy, radiant light and heat from the sun for the benefit of the community. This source has been known since ancient times using ever evolving technologies but even now only a minute fraction of what is actually available is being collected and used.

The installations are efficient, environmentally friendly and reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. They are becoming a familiar part of the landscape in North America and mainland Europe and plans are afoot to establish them in many parts of England.

The first solar farm for the Bourne area was established in the summer of 2011 when 35 acres of farmland off the Spalding Road were earmarked for the project costing £12 million. Lark Energy, part of the Larkfleet Group which is based locally, announced plans to fill the site at Limes Farm off the Spalding Road with hundreds of photovoltaic panels to produce clean energy.

Planning permission was granted for the installation to be surrounded by a 2.2 metre high fence to protect against intruders and conditions were attached to protect wildlife such as breeding birds while the land between the panels will be used to graze small sheep, goats or poultry or to grow grass and wildflowers. The first panels were in place by August that year and once up and running, the solar farm is expected to be operational for thirty years and will therefore help conserve traditional sources of energy.

But the project did not please everyone and when South Kesteven District Council's planning committee met to consider the application on Tuesday 26th April, a neighbouring farmer lodged an objection on the grounds that the land was so valuable and highly productive that it was known as black gold and should therefore be retained for agriculture.

In the event, the committee decided that although a solar farm would result in the less intensive use of Grade II agricultural land, this would be outweighed by the benefits of encouraging renewable energy and the scheme was approved by 12 votes to four. Among those who voted in favour was Councillor David Higgs (Bourne East) who told the meeting: "Solar farms produce ten times the energy of oilseed rape. We will feel quite proud to have a site like this in Bourne."

The main opponent to the scheme was Neville Bish who owns Mason's Farm nearby and has spent his life in farming. He suggested that the chosen site showed a gross lack of planning for the future and accused those councillors who voted for the project of failing to see the bigger picture. In a letter to The Local newspaper (May 13th), he said that in voting for it they really did not know what they were doing. "Councillor Higgs seems to have little understanding of the current state of food production", he wrote. "Russia has closed its doors to exporting wheat, China is sucking up everything it can buy, India is competing for what is left, with the result that wheat is 110 per cent up on last year. So what do we do? Take some of our best arable land out of production, increase our imports and use more fuel to get it back to Bourne where it could have been grown in the first place."

Mr Bish has also asked why less valuable land could not be utilised for this purpose. "We have thousands of acres of poor land, landfill sites, redundant airfields and poor grazing land", he wrote. "Develop these sites and we will all win. I pointed out to the council that this site is an inherent bog and frost pocket but this seemed to be discounted when Lark Energy replied that most of the power was produced in the summer, so let's hope we don't need to switch a light on in the winter.

"It is proposed that the site be grazed by sheep. As a farmer, I know that a few sheep will in no way equal the thousands of tons of grain, sugar beet, peas, rape, etc, that would have been produced on this site or the hundreds of jobs in the food chain from fields to shops and allied industries that it currently supports. Sadly, only myself and four members of the planning committee appeared to see the bigger picture."

After the first section was completed, work on the solar farm was delayed for several months during 2012 due to the uncertainty surrounding government policy on such projects but Lark Energy announced in December that they would be resuming in 2013. "It is not uncommon that renewable energy schemes struggle to get started", explained project manager Thomas Kelly. "It has been a long, hard road but we will be relieved to get started again."

Work was eventually completed in April 2013 when the system began production and the power output linked to the National Grid. By then, the site had been filled with 20,000 5.6 MWp photovoltaic panels each around 1.8 meters high, mounted on racks fixed to the ground and tilted towards the sun, and capable of generating enough energy to provide power for 1,400 homes.

The Stamford Mercury reported (April 5th) that final testing had been completed and the site was now in operation. Some landscaping still needed to be done to finalise the project and it was expected that the land will also be used eventually for agricultural purposes. Managing director of Lark Energy, Jonathan Selwyn, told the newspaper that construction work had been a challenge because of the muddy conditions created by a prolonged spell of wet weather. “We are delighted that the solar farm is now producing clean energy”, he said.

But farmer Neville Bish was still having misgivings. The power lines connecting the solar farm to the National Grid had been erected overhead but a more direct route would be underground through his land, a subject now under discussion with the energy company. He told the newspaper that he had been wrestling with his conscience about whether to allow the cables to be laid and accept compensation. “I have always been against any development taking good arable land out of production”, he said. “There is a world shortage and it just does not make any sense. It is so alien to our natural environment. We are never going to see birds, foxes and badgers there again. It is therefore so hard for me to decide but if I do not allow it they will go around and so maybe I will say yes and donate some of the money to charity.”

The setback during 2012 was caused by the uncertainty surrounding the government’s feed-in tariffs but these problems were solved by a renewable obligation certificate scheme which requires power companies to buy a certain amount of electricity from clean energy sources such as this.

REVISED APRIL 2013

PHOTO ALBUM

See also Wind turbines