Member Article

New solar farm will provide Devon waste treatment works with 30 years of clean energy after planning agreed

A new solar farm is set to provide clean energy for a waste treatment works in Devon for the next 30 years after planning permission was secured by a leading property consultancy.

Fisher German successfully achieved planning permission for a solar farm on 16.5 acres of land next to Bridge Road in Brixham that will provide 2 MW of power for the adjacent treatment works.

Torbay Development Agency identified the site for a solar array proposal following Torbay Council declaring a climate change emergency in June 2019 and saw the benefits of supplying sustainable renewable energy to an adjoining high energy user. Following negotiations, Fisher German successfully achieved planning permission for the solar array, which will not only help power the water treatment works, but will feed back into the grid if any surplus energy is generated.

Significant ecological benefits and landscape enhancements formed part of the scheme approved too. Victoria Heath, planner at Fisher German, said: “This is a fantastic result for the area - the solar farm will go a long way to helping tackle the climate emergency, while improving biodiversity and preserving important archaeological remains on site.

“The revised plan we produced was able to reassure Torbay’s planning committee that the impact of the solar farm would be minimal while providing valuable green energy to the adjacent water treatment works.

“We also included landscape and ecological enhancements in our plan, resulting in a gain in biodiversity on land where bats are known to roost in hedges. “We are so pleased to have secured this permission and that these panels will make a telling contribution to green energy provision in Torbay for the next 30 years.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .