How can councillors and residents get the best for their communities from new solar developments? This page answers some frequently asked questions about solar farms and their impacts.
Solar helps us to tackle climate change. To achieve the UK Government’s target of net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2035, whilst doubling supply to electrify heating and transport, we will need a lot more renewable energy. Solar can now be built without subsidy so is one of the best options.
The UK has 14,000 megawatts (MW) of solar PV currently deployed across rooftops and solar farms, providing over 4% of UK electricity demand. The Committee on Climate Change has identified a need to deploy 54,000MW of solar by 2035 to keep on track for net zero by 2050. That would require an average annual deployment of 2,600MW solar.
How do communities and voters feel about solar power?
The government regularly collects data on public attitudes to energy generation through the BEIS Public Attitudes Tracker. Solar is consistently the most popular, supported by over 90% of people in autumn 2021.
The report ‘2022 – A Bright Future for Solar’ looked at public opinion about large scale ground mount solar projects, and the opinions of those that live in their vicinity. It found strong support, and increasing support over time, for solar farms, from people who live near them.
What contribution can solar make?
Solar output is variable but predictable. It already makes a significant contribution to the GB grid (4.2% in 2020).
Why not rooftop solar instead?
We need solar on roofs and solar farms. Solar farms can be implemented quickly and provide significant generation. There are already over 800,000 rooftop solar systems in the UK.
Solar Farms’ Carbon Footprint
Solar farms take about one-and-a-half to two years to pay back the carbon it took to make them, and typically they have at least a 25-year lifetime. So they are saving carbon for almost all their lifetime.
Biodiversity at Solar Farms
Solar farms can increase the biodiversity of the site they are on and allow for continuing agricultural use. They have small footings and in the UK they have wide spacing between rows, to avoid shading, which leaves plenty of space for wildlife.
Waste and recycling of solar panels
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive states that the manufacturers of solar panels must fulfil specific legal requirements and meet recycling standards to ensure that solar panels do not adversely impact the environment at end of life. The number of specialist recycling sites is increasing.
Protecting agricultural land
Solar farm development should focus on non-agricultural or lower grade agricultural land. There is a range of both government and industry guidance to help developers achieve good practice.
Minimising industrialisation of the landscape
Solar farms do not require extensive concrete foundations. Solar panels are commonly installed using pile-driven or screw foundations, or pre-moulded concrete anchors (shoes) to minimise their footprint.
Planning permission for solar farms is usually temporary and the original land use can easily be reinstated afterwards.
Visual impact
Solar farms can readily be screened from short-range view and their design should minimise visual impact. Solar panels have anti-reflective coatings that reduce glare, however some reflection is inevitable.
Assessments will look at the potential impact on dwellings, road users, aviation and railway operators and suggest solutions such as orientation, layout and screening.
GETTING THE BEST FOR YOUR COMMUNITY
Done well, solar farms can minimise negative impacts and provide positive benefits for local people and for nature. You can ask the developer to commit to good practice when consultations and planning applications take place. But what does good practice look like? We recommend taking Solar Energy UK’s ‘Solar Farms: 10 Commitments’ as a starting point for what you should expect from a developer.
WESTMILL SOLAR PARK EXPLORATORY FIELD TRIPS
If you are interested in finding out more about the impacts surrounding the developments of new solar farms, one of our Exploratory Field Trips to Westmill Solar Park is an ideal way to gain a better understanding.
Westmill Solar Park Exploratory Field Trips will only tour (and provide guided information on) the Solar Park and the processes behind new solar farms. Therefore, this form should only be completed by groups who wish to explore the aspects of new solar farms. For others who wish to visit the whole of the Westmill site for a standard educational visit or for recreational purposes, please book HERE.
FURTHER RESOURCES
The following resources provide much more detailed information and resources on: guidance, usually aimed at developers, as to what good practice is; planning policy relating to solar farms; and planning guidance for solar farms.
Good Practice
The Solar Trade Association (now renamed Solar Energy UK) recognised the need for large-scale solar to be deployed in a responsible manner and developed a set of ten commitments for its members. In 2013 the Building Research Establishment (BRE) established the National Solar Centre in Cornwall, which published four very useful guidance documents over the next three years:
Agricultural Good Practice Guidance for Solar Farms: The National Farmers Union led a working group to develop this guidance from 2014 with solar farm developers and the Solar Trade Association under the auspices of the government’s Solar PV Strategy. It shows how solar farms can be combined with continued agricultural land use for small livestock such as sheep, chickens or geese.
Biodiversity Guidance for Solar Developments: This 2014 guide was written in partnership with The National Trust, RSPB, Plantlife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Eden Project, Buglife, Wychwood Biodiversity, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and the Solar Trade Association (STA). It outlines how to develop a wide range of habitat enhancements, from beetle banks to winter food planting for birds. The STA subsequently published The Natural Capital Value of Solar in 2019, which includes a number of case studies demonstrating different forms of biodiversity enhancement. It presents a Land Management Charter for STA members to promote best practice among asset owners, O&M providers and land managers. It also provides information on a decision support tool developed by the universities of Lancaster and York – Solar Park Impacts on Ecosystem Services (SPIES) – to help the solar industry optimise the biodiversity benefits of solar farms.
Community engagement good practice guidance for solar farms: This document from 2015 outlines good practice and principles for community engagement over the lifecycle of a UK solar farm project. It is aimed primarily at commercial developers.
Two reports were published in 2022 highlighting the potential biodiversity benefits that solar farms can bring:
Solar Energy UK has published ‘Natural Capital Best Practice Guidance’ which shows how development of large-scale ground mount solar can be an excellent opportunity to implement dual-use projects, with land supporting both the UK’s energy self-sufficiency and nature recovery.
The ethical insurance company Naturesave has published Realising the Biodiversity Potential of Solar Farms which is designed to offer “clear and practical guidance on how to realise the unique potential for solar farms to become havens for biodiversity”.
The solar industry is encouraged to adopt this guidance in order to achieve “biodiversity net gain”, which is an approach to development, and/or land management, that aims to leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than it was beforehand.
These various documents provide the kind of standards that project developers should be working to. It is very important for developers to engage in pre-application consultation with local communities and developers should consider offering a package of measures that will benefit local communities. The Scottish government has published Good Practice Principles for Community Benefits from Onshore Renewable Energy Developments. For England, the government’s recently published guidance (Community Engagement and Benefits from Onshore Wind Developments) limits itself to onshore wind and stresses the expectation that developers will provide a community benefit package (though these are “not material considerations in determining whether planning permission should be given”). Although it focuses on wind, the same principles apply to large-scale solar deployment.
In general, Solar Energy UK has published a number of very useful reports.
Planning policy related to solar farms
The overarching legislation is the Planning Act 2008. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was first published in 2012 and most recently updated in 2023. It is a high-level document that provides the overall planning framework for England. There is a section on Planning for climate change and paragraphs 158 to 164 cover renewable energy. It is important to note that planning covers two separate areas:
Local planning authorities are responsible for producing a local development plan which sets out policies and development needs for their particular area. Paragraph 160 of the NPPF states that the local plan should “consider identifying suitable areas for renewable and low carbon energy sources, and supporting infrastructure, where this would help secure their development”. Local plans need to be updated on a regular basis but it’s a slow and laborious process, sometimes taking many years. These are very important documents as there is a strong presumption that planning decisions will be made in accordance with the local plan.
The second responsibility relates to planning for individual proposals, where decisions are normally guided by what is set out in the local plan and the extent to which proposals are in line with planning guidance.
With regard to Green Belt, Paragraph 156 of the NPPF states: “When located in the Green Belt, elements of many renewable energy projects will comprise inappropriate development. In such cases developers will need to demonstrate very special circumstances if projects are to proceed. Such very special circumstances may include the wider environmental benefits associated with increased production of energy from renewable sources.”
Planning responsibilities for energy generation projects depend on their scale. Local authorities are responsible for projects up to 50 megawatts (MW) whilst the Secretary of State and Planning Inspectorate are responsible for projects above 50MW. Until recently it was rare for solar farms to exceed 50MW but now projects up to and over 500MW are being planned. The government consulted on the >50MW planning requirements in September 2021. The latest version of the National Policy Statement (NPS) for Renewable Energy (EN-3) for projects up to 50MW was adopted by government on 17 January 2024 (see also this useful article).
For projects below 50MW, the existing provisions are those published in 2015 (see below). However developers should assume that the new >50 MW guidance mentioned above is equally relevant to themselves.
Planning guidance related to solar farms
For solar farms below 50MW, guidance was set out in June 2015 in a government webpage titled Renewable and low carbon energy. There is general guidance for local authorities on how to incorporate renewables into their local plan, including how to identify suitable areas for renewable energy. However, note that it also says “where councils have identified suitable areas for large scale solar farms, they should not have to give permission outside those areas for speculative applications involving the same type of development when they judge the impact to be unacceptable.” It is therefore important for developers to be familiar with the local plan and any “suitable areas” identified therein.
The guidance provides the kind of criteria that local plans should consider, with reference also to the criteria set out for technologies in the >50MW guidance (hence the importance that this >50MW guidance now has a section specifically on large-scale solar). Friends of the Earth has provided a useful briefing guide on the importance of local plans for renewable energy. A recent good example of a Supplementary Planning Document for Solar Farm Development is that published by Chelmsford City Council in November 2021.
In the section of the national guidance for “particular planning considerations that relate to large scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaic farms”, it states the need to focus large-scale solar farms on previously developed and non-agricultural land. Where a solar farm is proposed on agricultural land, it should allow for continued agricultural use where applicable and/or encourage biodiversity improvements around arrays. Solar farms are often treated by planning authorities as temporary structures, which means that the land retains its original classification once the solar farm has been removed. Planning conditions can also be made to require the developer to return the land to its previous use. Avoiding impacts on “heritage assets” is given a high priority.
With regard to assessing cumulative landscape and visual impact of large scale solar farms, the guidance states “this is likely to be the same as assessing the impact of wind turbines. However, in the case of ground-mounted solar panels it should be noted that with effective screening and appropriate land topography the area of a zone of visual influence could be zero.”
A number of local authorities have published planning guidance for large-scale solar. Cornwall Council was first to publish guidance around 2012, but has now incorporated it into one for all land-based renewables in 2016: Cornwall Renewable Energy Planning Advice.
Of course many local authorities have declared climate emergencies in recent years and are looking to reduce their own carbon footprint. Quite a number now own (or are developing) their own solar farms. Local councils also derive direct financial benefit from commercial solar farm projects through business rates income.
