Lincolnshire ‘under attack’ by volume of solar farm applications
Lincolnshire is “under attack” by applications for large-scale solar farms, a senior county councillor has said. Concerns have been raised over the volume of applications being considered and submitted for land across the county, with developers most recently eyeing up 1,700 acres[1] between Sleaford and Lincoln[2].
Councillor Colin Davie, the executive for economic development, environment and planning at Lincolnshire County Council[3], said there needed to be a bigger push for new homes to include solar panels and other green energy solutions. Pointing to some of the large-scale solar farms in the pipeline around the county, he said: “I would probably say we’re under attack by applications, and there are even more coming down the track.
“We are inundated with applications for large solar farms and other energy projects. Lincolnshire will play its role in terms of the national picture but we’re not to be a dumping ground for the south of England energy production where there are plenty of poor quality land options which could be utilised.”
Cllr Davie was speaking at an environment and economy scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday, April 11. A new report on the energy options for Greater Lincolnshire was met with questions about the flexibility and limitations of the grid.
Some councillors worried about how a move towards electric vehicles could burden areas of the country where the grid was insufficient. Cllr Davie also raised concerns that some battery storage issues and intermittency problems had not been dealt with, but welcomed commitments made by local authorities to encourage new homes to be as zero-carbon as possible.
Cllr Ashley Baxter felt there needed to be more information on solar power included in the report. He noted the difference in response to solar farms and the proposed nuclear waste facility[5] in Theddlethorpe[6], which was examined by a specialist group.
Fellow councillor Martin Griggs questioned the capacity of the grid. He said: “We could build a ginormous nuclear plant slap bang in the middle of Lincolnshire – I’m not suggesting we do that but say we did.
“We couldn’t put the energy into the grid because it’s not big enough. There’s a big push away from petrol cars towards electric vehicles and that’s going to be a massive burden on energy infrastructure in parts of the country where the grid is insufficient.”
Committee chairman Cllr Ian Carrington said the weakness of the grid needed to be a key focus for Lincolnshire’s energy options. “That is a significant impairment to our potential for economic growth and prosperity for our people,” he said, noting the “enormous challenges” of getting “electrical goodness” in and out of the Sleaford Moor Enterprise Park[7].
References
- ^ developers most recently eyeing up 1,700 acres (www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk)
- ^ Lincoln (www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk)
- ^ Lincolnshire County Council (www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk)
- ^ Proposed solar farm could power ‘half the homes in Lincolnshire’ (www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk)
- ^ proposed nuclear waste facility (www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk)
- ^ Theddlethorpe (www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk)
- ^ Sleaford Moor Enterprise Park (www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk)