PLANS have been submitted by energy company EDF Renewables to build a large solar farm on 19 fields between Truro and St Austell.
If approved, the Trelion solar farm would provide enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 9,500 homes a year.
The planning application came in the same week that a solar farm earmarked for 230 acres of land at Canworthy Water, between Bude and Launceston, was refused by a Cornwall Council planning committee. Councillors decided the proposal to deliver approximately 42MW of renewable energy would provide too much of a visual impact in the rural area.
EDF Renewables’ plan is for a 49.9MWac photovoltaic solar array with ancillary infrastructure, landscaping and “biodiversity enhancements” on land near Green Acres Farm, Scarcewater, near Grampound Road and St Stephen. It is proposed for a 40-year operational period on a site that measures 82.5 hectares.
As well as the solar panels, there would be 17 transformer stations, 76 CCTV cameras mounted on to 2.5m to 3.5m poles located around the perimeter of the site and 2.2m high deer fencing surrounding the solar farm. The applicant states it would save approximately 21,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
A map showing the extent of the Trelion solar farm (Pic: SLR Consulting Ltd)
EDF Renewables is part of one of the world’s largest electricity companies and is the main vehicle for developing, constructing and operating renewable energy projects within the UK. Its portfolio of projects spans across the UK and includes more than 40 onshore wind farms, major offshore developments, solar, battery storage and hybrid developments with a mix of technologies.
The planning application states that the primary reason for selecting the site – which has been used for agriculture since the Medieval period – is its proximity to the National Grid Indian Queens substation.
Twenty-one potential sites near the substation were considered and discounted for reasons related to availability arising from landowner responses and complications within the negotiation process.
Cornwall Council agreed in April to commission research to explore the economic role of Grade 3 land to ensure that planning decisions take into account the right balance between use of land for food production and solar farms. It follows a number of contentious planning applications for industrial solar farms in the Duchy.
For more details on the Trelion scheme see planning application on Cornwall Council's planning portal under reference PA24/05312.
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