Fifteen years ago, the first of what would become a series of large-scale onshore wind farms scattered across the county started producing electricity near a former RAF base south of Bridlington. However, when government subsidies for onshore wind were slashed in 2015, the pace of new development slowed dramatically. Now focus has switched from wind to solar with more than 20 separate planning applications for solar-related projects currently lodged with East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
Nationally significant infrastructure projects
Because of their anticipated generating capacity of more than 50MW of electricity, there are also two solar farm schemes earmarked for the area that are currently going through the development consent order process separately, as both are classed as nationally significant infrastructure projects.
The largest in terms of export capacity is Boom Power’s East Yorkshire Solar Farm, which is proposed to cover an area of 1,277 hectares of land between the villages of Gribthorpe, Spaldington and Wressle and the town of Howden. The other is RWE’s Peartree Hill Solar Farm, some 20 miles north of Hull, which includes several areas of land connected by a series of underground cables.
Neither proposed location is accidental. The Boom Power scheme is intended to feed into the National Grid’s substation at Drax, while electricity generated at Peartree Hill would be applied to another National Grid substation at Cottingham which is also being geared up handle power from the Dogger Bank and Hornsea Four offshore wind farms in the North Sea.
Both solar schemes have been designed to occupy sites in close proximity to major grid connections, but sufficiently far enough away from areas of significant population to avoid the kind of protests staged against wind farm proposals over a decade ago.
Minimising the loss of valuable agricultural land
Inevitably, it means agricultural land is involved in both locations, with developers keen to stress their efforts in minimising the use of the most valuable and productive land. At Peartree Hill, most of the land is either arable or grassland and RWE are expected to encourage existing landowners or tenant farmers, including a free-range chicken business, to continue grazing under the raised solar panels.
I attended a recent public consultation event for the Peartree Hill scheme and was struck by a change in mood from the days of vociferous villagers campaigning against wind farms being built on their doorstep. Perhaps it’s a visual thing. In East Yorkshire’s predominantly flat landscape, solar farms are relatively easy to hide from view behind hedgerows.
I think there has also been a shift in attitudes towards not only the need for clean sustainable energy but also self-sufficiency when it comes to energy generation. Terrible though it is, the conflict in Ukraine has taught everyone a harsh lesson about energy dependency.
Arguments over land use don’t stack up
Opponents of solar farms continue to raise the loss of agricultural land as a major concern but, from what I’ve actually seen on the ground, it’s an argument that doesn’t stack up. RWE says over 95% of solar panel areas can be made available for grazing, not only retaining an agricultural use but also allowing topsoil to recover by increasing organic matter in the soil.
According to Boom Power, even the five-fold increase in solar power predicted by the government as being necessary to meet net zero targets would still only account for 0.3% of UK land – less than the amount currently used for golf courses.
“This is an absurdly small area to help reduce the UK’s carbon footprint, displace use of extortionate fossil fuels, reduce electricity bills, benefit nature and bolster the country’s energy security,” added the company.
Suspicions remain over fossil fuel links
As for the energy firms behind solar farms, critics often point to those with an entrenched trading legacy of gas and oil as a reason to be suspicious.
On its website, German-owned RWE makes no secret of its fossil fuel history in the mining of coal, lignite and gas but also goes to great lengths to detail its transition to clean energy sources. It says:
“Climate protection is a truly Herculean task for the area of conventional electricity generation in particular but we accept the challenge by constantly optimising and modernising our power plant portfolio, for example.
“The phaseout of coal is also on the agenda for RWE in the coming years. We are working very closely with our partners from industry and research as we take this responsible step, focusing in the process on the use of promising technologies that can help reduce gas emissions to a minimum.”
In contrast, Boom Power is a relative newcomer, having only been formed in 2019, and was set up as a renewables development company by chief executive Mark Hogan.
Commenting on the progress of his company’s proposed East Yorkshire Solar Farm project, he said:
“Our team have worked alongside industry leaders to bring this concept to life, and I am delighted that our application for East Yorkshire has been accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate.
“We are grateful to everyone who has shared their views with us so far, thus helping to shape our application. Collaborating with the local community has and will continue to enable us to deliver a best-in-class proposal which promotes biodiversity net gain, climate adaptation and economic growth. We look forward to the next stage and progressing the application through examination to decision.”
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