Plans to build a solar farm the size of 86 football fields in Kent have been rejected as “insane”.
Developers of the installation on “high-grade” farmland near Sittingbourne were told by a councillor the panels should instead be placed on roofs and car parks.
Supporters pointed out the site - sitting either side of Vigo Lane and Wrens Road near Borden - would have provided clean energy for 11,500 homes.
Developers Industria Solar said they were “disappointed” by the decision, but would review their application and consider “further steps”.
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Building the sprawling solar farm near the boundary of the Kent Downs National Landscape was criticised by Green Party councillor Terry Thompson, who pointed out it took up Grade 1 farmland.
As a farmer, he said it was “insane” to build on such fertile land, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“It isn’t an industrial landscape, it’s the garden of England.”
“We really seriously need to think about security of food production," he added.
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https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/03/made-shade-growing-crops-solar-farms-yields-efficiency
“There is potential for agrivoltaic systems – where agriculture and solar panels coexist – to provide increased passive cooling through taller panel heights, more reflective ground cover and higher evapotranspiration rates compared to traditional solar farms,” said senior author Max Zhang, professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, “We can generate renewable electricity and conserve farmland through agrivoltaic systems.”
There’s also work showing sheep can maintain the grass under the panels while the solar panels providing shade.
I still think over carparks or rooftops is better, but it shouldn’t detract from using farmland. We need to phase out fossil fuels as fast as possible.
