Published: 6 Jul 2022, 16:03
East Stour is the latest in a string of applications and proposals of 50MW solar farms from the renewables development arm of the French energy giant. Image: EDF Renewables.
EDF Renewables has submitted a planning application for another 50MW solar farm, the East Stour Solar Farm in Kent becoming the latest project to advance.
The 49.9MW solar farm will be located on farmland south of the M20 and northeast of Aldington. If approved, it would have an operating life of 40 years, paying out £20,000 a year as part of a community fund to support local initiatives.
EDF has submitted the planning application to Ashford Borough Council after two rounds of consultation in summer and autumn 2021. A number of changes have been made to the design of the site following feedback, including a reduction in its size and additional planting around the boundary of the solar farm.
If the council approves the site, construction is expected to start in 2023.
The proposed layout of the East Stour Solar Farm. Image: EDF Renewables.
“We are excited to have reached this important milestone in the development of our proposals for East Stour Solar Farm,” said James Lyons from EDF Renewables UK.
“The project has the potential to contribute towards our national effort to reach net zero by 2050. Solar is a tried and tested way of meeting the need for new, renewable forms of power generation.”
EDF Renewables UK’s battery storage team, Pivot Power, is continuing to progress a separate planning application for a battery energy storage system on the land between the East Stour Solar Farm and the Sellindge substation. This is expected to also be submitted to Ashford Borough Council in the near future.
East Stour Solar Farm forms part of a slew of 50MW projects being developed by EDF Renewables, including 49.9MW Burwell site in South East Cambridgeshire and the 49.9MW Porth Wen site in Anglesey, which are both at the site preparation and construction phase.
At the beginning of July, the company gained planning permission for its 49.9MW Bloy’s Grove Solar Farm and in April construction of the 49.9MW Sutton Bridge Solar Farm began.
In May, EDF submitted a planning application for a 49.9MW solar farm in Northamptonshire and in 2021 it submitted an application for its 49.9MW Tye Lane Solar Farm.
The full planning application for East Stour Solar Farm can be seen on the Ashford Borough Council website using the reference 22/00668/AS.