The UK Government has approved the construction of three new solar farms in the Midlands in England that could power at least 400,000 homes.
Ed Miliband, the new energy secretary, passed plans for the projects at Mallard Pass, which is located in Rutland and across the border in Lincolnshire, Sunnica in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and Gate Burton in Lincolnshire, covering a total of 2,837 hectares.
According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the projects could generate a total of 1.4GW – enough to power 406,994 homes.
“Solar power is crucial to achieving net zero, providing an abundant source of cleaner, cheaper energy on the mission towards 2030,” said Miliband.
“Some of these cases had been held up for months before I arrived in the department. They were put on my desk on Monday, and I have made a decision in three days. This is the speed we are working at to achieve energy independence, cut bills for families and kick-start green economic growth.”
The amount of energy produced by the three solar farms will amount to around two-thirds of the solar energy installed on rooftops and on the ground in the UK last year.
Approval of the solar farms is part of the wider Labour Government plan to triple the amount of solar power in the UK by 2030, as well as double onshore wind and quadruple offshore wind.
On Saturday night, Miliband said: “I want to unleash a UK solar rooftop revolution. We will encourage builders and homeowners in whatever way we can to deliver this win-win technology to millions of addresses in the UK so people can provide their own electricity, cut their bills and at the same time help fight climate change.”
There has been some criticism of the new projects, however. Referring to the planned Sunnica wind farm, Richard Rout from Suffolk County Council said: “The voices of thousands of local residents, businesses and organisations have not been listened to. This scheme will permanently and detrimentally impact the landscape of a vast part of West Suffolk and remove thousands of acres of land from food production.”
