Perhaps Labour’s biggest contribution to Britain’s solar industry (so far) has been the change in reporting on solar energy developments.
Despite only being elected in July, the new government has met industry demands ahead of the election, with the three Nationally Important Solar Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) awaiting ministerial approval granted Development Consent Orders (DCOs ) and consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is underway.
Changes would see the limit for what is classified as an NSIP moved from 50MW to 150MW, with the aim of accelerating the rollout of larger solar projects in the UK. Trade body Solar Energy UK said it remains cautious about changing the 50MW threshold.
“The industry will consider the proposals and how much they will accelerate the deployment of solar energy over the next decade, which is the outcome we all want to see,” the report said.
What was more unanimously welcomed was the proposed rewording used in the NPPF. The proposed amendments say local authorities must “support planning applications for all forms of renewable and low-carbon development”, giving “significant weight to renewable energy generation and a net zero future.”
A further change would recognize that “even small-scale and community-led projects make a valuable contribution to renewable energy generation and a net zero future”. Notably, the changes could also see the NPPF state that the quality of agricultural land that can be used for solar energy development “should not be a predominant factor” in determining applications.
The current NPPF refers to the consideration of agricultural land for food production. Local planning authorities have taken advantage of this to refuse planning permission for solar farms.
The EN-3 document governing applications for NSIPs defines renewable energy generation as a “critical national policy infrastructure,” and states that “national security, economic, commercial and net zero benefits” tend to outweigh any potential impacts .
On hearing the news, Chris Hewett, CEO of Solar Energy UK, said: “The industry will be pleased to see the back of this provision in the NPPF, which was used as a pretext for planning refusals. As Energy Minister Ed Miliband recently said, solar farms do not pose a threat to the country’s food security – and never will.”
‘Myth and false information’ from parliament
Ed Miliband, the newly appointed Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), denounced the idea that solar farms pose a threat to food security in the House of Commons on July 18, citing estimates that ground-mounted solar takes up a lot of space. 0.1% of UK land in 2022
He said that from now on the government will move forward “not on the basis of myths and false information, but on the basis of evidence”.
This was particularly prescient in the wake of the Conservative government’s reporting on solar developments: a small but vocal minority of MPs, parish councils and neighbors of prospective solar farms opposed new developments on the grounds that they would result in the loss of productive agricultural land.
They argued that agricultural land should be used for food production. Give in to this or, as Chris Hewett wrote in a blog post Solar energy portalaimed at some “die-hard NIMBY votes from the very limited electorate who choose the leader of their party”, when Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss fought for party leadership the sun debate became a bargaining chip.
Speaking at a rally on August 1, 2022, Sunak highlighted a number of challenges currently facing Britain. This included Westminster understanding the needs of rural communities, he said, which meant “ensuring our fields were used for food production and not solar panels.”
Similarly, Truss said, “Our fields should be full of our great produce… they shouldn’t be full of solar panels.” At another rally shortly afterwards, Truss again suggested that solar farms had a negative impact on food security.
“I am someone who wants farmers to produce food, not fill out forms, not do red tape, not fill fields with paraphernalia like solar farms. What we want are crops, and we want livestock.”
Following Liz Truss’s short-lived stint as Prime Minister of Britain, Sunak’s government rejected the prospect of an effective ban put forward under her predecessor, which during the 49 days of her premiership would see the extension of planning protections for high-value agricultural land to advocated temperate areas. quality ‘3b’ land.
Solar farms and agriculture
Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is not as harmful to agriculture as some think. Solar farms disturb less than 2% of the underlying land and are completely reversible. They can be quickly removed and at the end of their lifespan the land can be used for food production again. The country will have benefited from a break in intensive cultivation, improved soil health and increased carbon sequestration.
Solar parks are ideal for multifunctional land use. They can produce clean energy and graze livestock, usually sheep, sometimes chickens and geese – so much so that agrivoltaic energy, the use of land for solar energy and livestock farming, has become an industry in itself.
In the past, attempts to promote the benefits of solar energy for biodiversity have occasionally been met with skepticism from planners and communities as to how much could actually be achieved. Yet multiple studies have shown time and time again that solar farms deliver significant biodiversity gains and have the potential to provide even more.
Furthermore, the addition of solar energy can provide a (much needed) income stream for farmers. The National Farmers’ Union of Scotland (NFUS) has signed an affinity agreement with Iqony Solar Energy Solutions (SENS), which will see landowners receive indexed, competitive market rent for up to 40 years.
The agreement further states that NFUS, which represents more than 9,000 agricultural and tenant farms, will use its knowledge and member relationships to identify locations suitable for PV technology and battery projects. SENS will develop the locations and become the long-term owner.
More recently, NFU president Tom Bradshaw backed the solar sector, saying: “It’s a small amount of land that’s being taken out of production.”
He added: “Solar farms offer farmers an attractive diversification income opportunity if we find the right balance between food security and climate ambitions. National planning guidelines and NFU policy both express a preference for large-scale solar farm development to be located wherever possible on lower quality agricultural land, avoiding the most productive and versatile soils.’
Dr. Jonathan Scurlock, the NFU’s lead advisor on renewable energy and climate change, has backed up Solar Energy UK’s recently released factsheets, debunking common arguments against new solar developments.
The factsheets are mainly aimed at MPs, with Solar Energy UK intending to “promote understanding, trust and consistency in the way planning authorities consider planning applications for solar farms”.
A similar debate is currently taking place in Italy covered by our sister site PV technology. Earlier this month, Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida announced a plan to “end the wild installation of ground-mounted solar photovoltaics” on land classified as agricultural land.
Italy’s solar trade body Italia Solare warned this could cost Italy €60 billion (US$65 billion) in lost tax revenue and private investment that could have been generated by the projects that were likely to be banned.