Published: 23 Feb 2021, 12:03
Image: Andreas Gücklhorn (Unsplash).
Cambridgeshire County Council’s Stanground solar farm has been given the green light.
The 2.93MW solar and battery storage park will be installed on a former landfill site, which has been closed and capped. It is no longer suitable for waste disposal or development, as the cap must be maintained to protect the environment from the waste buried there.
As such, the solar farm has been welcomed as a constructive use of the site, as well as supporting Peterborough and Cambridgeshire to achieve their net zero carbon ambitions.
Planning permission has been granted by Peterborough City Council’s Planning and Environmental Protection Committee, following extensive consultations with the local community, as well a number of ecological surveys being undertaken and built into the application.
Stanground solar farm will consist of over 5,800 panels and is expected to have a lifespan of 25 to 30 years. The battery energy storage system will connect to the local electricity grid, and sell green electricity into the wholesale market.
Cllr Mark Goldsack, chairman of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Commercial and Investment Committee said he was “delighted this forward-thinking project has been approved.”
“The UK is in the transition to a low carbon future and we must significantly increase electricity generation. Solar panels and battery storage – in the right locations of minimal visual or noise impact – are key to our future electricity system and provide the flexibility and resilience consumers need.”
The site was initially announced back in January 2019, with the full plans revealed in April 2020 when the council submitted them for planning permission.