Water Hall Solar Farm

The Climate Emergency, the cost of living crisis and the energy crunch are all linked by how we generate, use and supply energy. We urgently need to generate energy from new, low cost, low carbon sources and solar is the lowest cost and quickest to deploy of all energy sources. It is currently one-tenth of the cost of gas and less than one third of the cost of nuclear.

Solar is already making a difference. For example, between June and August 2022, solar often provided up to 25% of UK daytime electricity (National Grid ESO carbon app). The government’s Energy Security Strategy (2022) proposed a five-fold increase in solar by 2035. This can only be achieved by deploying solar on both land and buildings.

For our solar farms we require a nearby grid connection, a well-screened site, the majority of land not being best and most versatile land and not within any significant planning designations, and a supportive landowner. Water Hall Solar Farm offers all these features.

The solar farm is a temporary development and will not change the land classification from agricultural greenfield to commercial/industrial brownfield. In effect, it will remain agricultural land when the solar farm has been decommissioned.

No, solar panels have no moving parts and emit no sound. Inverters and transformers can emit very low level sound, but these are sited away from houses and cannot be heard from more than a few metres away.

The UK Food Security Report (2021) found that “the biggest medium to long term risk to the UK’s domestic production comes from climate change and other environmental pressures such as soil degradation, water quality and biodiversity”.

Solar farms currently account for 0.08% of total land use in the UK (Solar Energy UK 2022). The Government targets for a fivefold increase in solar would result in 0.3% of the UK land area being used by solar (Carbon Brief, 2022). This is the equivalent to around half of the space used by golf courses.

There is no evidence that solar farms have a negative impact on wildlife. In fact, wildlife thrives within the sites when managed sensitively.

We are committed to significant net biodiversity gain at Water Hall Farm through the creation of new habitats to support local wildlife. Existing hedgerows will be strengthened and new hedgerows will be planted to improve habitat connectivity across the site. We will set aside a significant proportion of the land for Biodiversity Enhancement Areas which will provide wildflower meadows for pollinators and grassland habitats to support mammals, birds and invertebrates.

Further ecological enhancement measures such as bird boxes and bat boxes will be placed within the site to encourage those populations to prosper.

Bluefield will contribute funds to local community projects as part of our solar farm investment. Previous examples of community benefit include funding the installation of solar panels on a primary school / village hall, contribution to local recreational facilities, improving public access and local environmental schemes. Establishing a local community energy fund could also be considered.

It typically takes 6-9 months to build a solar farm of this size.

Site working would typically be Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings only.

A construction traffic management plan will be conditioned and subject to detailed liaison with the highways department post planning. Once the solar farm is constructed, monitoring will be carried out remotely by Bluefield, minimising visits by maintenance staff.