The UK’s Secretary of State for Business, Environment, and Industrial Strategy approved the plans for a mammoth 958-acre solar farm in the Kent countryside of Graveney, between Faversham and Whitstable. It will be the biggest solar park in the nation, employing 880,000 solar panels as tall as double-decker buses to power 90,000 homes with their combined 350 megawatts of renewable energy.
Cleve Hill solar farm, as it is called, will also house a massive lithium battery storage plant the size of 20 football pitches – which will be one of the largest energy storage systems in the world.
It sounds like great news for the planet and climate change issues, right? It may be so, but the controversial project has sparked immense and long-running debates due to its monumental proportions. Campaigners have been rallying against it to protect the farmland and marshes they hold dear. They are concerned that the scale and location of the development will ruin the scenery and have damaging effects on wildlife.
In response to this, the developers held meetings with local authorities and communities to design the solar farm in a way that would be most beneficial for the surrounding area and its inhabitants. These discussions resulted in the implementation of several environmental features. Such elements include:
- A reduction of the total area covered by solar panels to 45.5% (the rest will be left open for biodiversity)
- Dual-use zones for meadow and sheep grazing
- Preservation of native woodland and scrub
- 3.64 km of native hedgerow screening planting to shield views
- A buffer zone of at least 63 meters between the Saxon Shore Way and the solar farm
Cleve Hill solar farm is a joint venture between Wirsol Energy and Hive Energy. The developers say the project should generate £1m of revenue for the Kent and Swale councils every year, as well as create new jobs for residents.
They hope to begin construction next year and have the farm producing clean electricity by 2023. The sooner, the better since it’ll be a big help towards achieving their goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. The project is expected to reduce the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels and lower CO2 emissions by 68,000 tons annually.
Solar power has helped the UK energy system tremendously in its transition away from coal. In April 2020, the UK went its longest stretch without coal-fired power since the Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, the rise of incorporating battery projects with the installation of solar panels means the electricity generated during the day could be used to keep lights on at night, too – further cutting carbon emissions.
