The South Gloucestershire Council in England has authorized the development of a solar farm exceeding 18MW, situated northeast of Bristol.
Once operational, this solar farm will generate sufficient electricity to power around 4400 households. The location includes various advantages related to landscape, ecology, and biodiversity, alongside a community benefit fund amounting to £37,000.
The application for the Codrington Solar Farm, with a capacity of 18.75MW, was submitted by Renewable Connections to the council in October 2022.
This followed prior community consultation earlier that same year. The approval for the project was granted on August 11th through delegated powers, after the South Gloucestershire Council received a recommendation for its approval.
John Leith, the development director at Renewable Connections, expressed his satisfaction with the approval “We are delighted to have received approval for Codrington Solar Farm.”
“Councils such as South Gloucestershire understand urgent action is required to limit the environmental impacts produced by the climate crisis and many have now declared their own climate emergency.”
The South Gloucestershire Council declared a climate emergency in May 2019 and committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. Renewable Connections also pledged to contribute to this goal by targeting 6% of the council’s energy from local renewable sources by 2028 and 25% by 2036.
Leith also emphasized the multiple benefits of the project “There are significant benefits to this scheme, aside from the obvious low carbon, home-grown energy it will deliver.”
“The solar farm has been designed to allow a raft of landscape, ecological and biodiversity benefits. This includes barn owl boxes, bird nesting boxes, beehives, log piles and restoration of traditional field boundaries.
“Land between and beneath the panels will be used for biodiversity enhancements and seasonal grazing.
Existing hedgerows surrounding the site will be bolstered with additional hedgerow and tree planting. The new hedgerows will deliver biodiversity enhancements by providing green ecological corridors and generally the site would enhance or provide new habitats for a wide range of insects, birds and animals.”
The planned construction of the solar farm is anticipated to commence in early 2025.
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