The proposal also sets out biodiversity development additions such as planting native tress, as well as adding bird and bat boxes, reptile hibernacula and hedgehog houses. Image: Pixabay.
Initial plans for a 25MW solar farm in South Gloucestershire submitted by British renewables developer Renewable Energy Systems (RES) at a public exhibition in July 2022 have been revised in response to local community feedback.
Information gathered from numerous technical and environmental surveys was used by the project team to inform the final design of Varley Solar farm, which will be located south east of Cromhall.
Alterations include increasing the height of hedgerows and moving infrastructure further away from residential properties.
RES also completed a review of all potential access routes and proposed a solution that will minimise the potential impact from HGC delivery traffic on the local road network.
The proposal also sets out biodiversity development additions such as planting native tress, as well as adding bird and bat boxes, reptile hibernacula and hedgehog houses.
“This particular site has been chosen as it has good solar irradiation levels, lies outside of any statutory environmental, archaeological and landscape designations and due to its proximity to a viable grid connection”, said Bertrand Devossel, development project manager at RES.
“We hope that South Gloucestershire will agree that Varley Solar Farm is in an optimum position to help tackle climate change and is a crucial step forward if the country is to meet the UK’s target of net zero by 2050.”
If successful, RES has said that Varley solar farm will have the potential to deliver an estimated £80,000 in annual business rate to fund local services.
Recent solar projects that are under development by the RES include a 50MW solar farm in Longhedge, Nottinghamshire, for which planning permission was submitted in December 2022.