Fight Against Solar Farms

 Political momentum is swaying in favour of European solar panel  manufacturers, as work progresses on a new EU law banning forced labour  practices that would effectively block Chinese imports. 

   Mines are keeping 350 homes in Gateshead warm once again but now without burning a single lump of coal. Water in flooded shafts and tunnels, heated by the Earth's crust,  promises a green revolution, with around six million households close to  former pits. 

 Ørsted has suspended its dividend and slashed targets for developing  renewables as the world’s largest offshore wind developer plots a  recovery following a calamitous 12 months.  

 Fears that Lincolnshire could become a "dumping ground" for solar farms are growing after 14 applications were submitted over the past year. Councillors are concerned these projects could have a significant impact on the county's agricultural sector and have called for the number of renewable energy schemes on farmland to be limited.  

 The UK Government has announced the purchase of the Wylfa and Oldbury nuclear sites from Hitachi for £160 million.  The deal, revealed during the Budget, has been met with anticipation from industry insiders and stakeholders. 

 Europe’s solar power industry has warned policymakers not to impose  tariffs on imports, amid fears that disrupting supplies of products from  China would seriously damage Europe’s ability to rapidly install clean  energy. 

   Italy’s energy utility Enel inaugurated its expanded 3Sun solar panel  manufacturing facility in Sicily, making it the biggest factory in  Europe, officials said. 

 Europe’s solar power industry has warned policymakers not to impose  tariffs on imports, amid fears that disrupting supplies of products from  China would seriously damage Europe’s ability to rapidly install clean  energy. 

  A battery safety plan for what is set to be the UK’s biggest solar farm has been rejected. Councillors  voted down the proposals after almost four hours of debate and despite  warnings of a “high risk there will be costs” to the council for  rejecting them.  The safety plan has faced intense local opposition, with more than 100  Swale residents writing in to the council to criticise the proposals. 

 Campaigners have said their "fight is not over" after a plan for a solar farm near Horncastle was quashed.  Push  Energy's proposals for land adjacent to Sotby Woods on Sturton Road, in  Hatton, were approved by East Lindsey District Council last year.

But  people living in the area fiercely opposed it and, following a judicial  review, a High Court judge said the council's approval was "unlawful".

 Campaigners are celebrating after a High Court judge said a council's approval of plans for a solar farm was unlawful. Approved  by Durham County Council, Lightsource bp's contentious plans to  transform a 92-hectare site near Burnhope into a huge solar farm are  fiercely opposed by residents.

 A solar farm the size of  about 33 football pitches has been given the go-ahead on green belt  farmland despite being rejected by councillors. 

Shropshire Council had declined planning permission for the site off Hall Lane, Kemberton, near Telford.

 Rishi Sunak has been urged to stick to a pledge to avoid building solar  farms on agricultural land as a huge energy farm is considered for land in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.  If approved, the project from Sunnica, an energy company, could create a Cabinet clash, with Lucy Frazer, the new Culture Secretary, vehemently opposing the development in her South East Cambridgeshire constituency.  

 UK farm land is being lost to solar panels, wind turbines, new housing  and rewilding, leaving tenant farmers facing a ‘perfect storm'. Wind turbines and solar farms are taking up land previously occupied by food-producing farmers  

 The Government claims that its British Energy Security Strategy will  increase the number of clean jobs in the UK by supporting around 112,000  additional jobs in renewable generation and hydrogen by the end of the  decade. 

 The UK has surpassed 15GW of onshore wind capacity, enough to power nearly ten million homes annually.  With 30.1MW capacity and seven turbines, this project contributes to the  UK’s total onshore wind capacity of 15.002GW spread across 2,631  projects. 

 A record year for building new wind farms and a rebound in investments  in the sector have raised hopes that the EU may achieve its clean energy  targets, industry group WindEurope said on Wednesday.  In an annual report, WindEurope described 2023 as a year of "significant  improvements" in key areas of Europe's wind energy sector, which  struggled in 2022. 

An application for battery storage units at the UK's biggest solar farm has been refused.

Cleve Hill Solar Park, at Graveney, in Kent, was given government approval in May 2020.  The plans require a 150-megawatt battery facility over 25 acres to store energy generated by 880,000 solar panels. 

 National Grid has unveiled the selected locations for its new green  energy link to the Netherlands, including landfall, cable route and  converter station sites.

 The project aims to connect Suffolk to the Netherlands and a Dutch offshore wind farm, facilitating the sharing of 1.8GW of green energy. 

 Britain endured a record 214 hours of negative electricity prices in 2023, according to a report. 

Britain experienced 214 hours of negative power prices in 2023, according to Imperial College London’s Electric Insights report. 

 A Scottish wind farm operator has been ordered to pay a £5.5m fine for  overcharging the National Grid to switch off turbines at peak times.  Dorenell Wind Farm in Scotland’s Highlands was found to have charged “excessive prices” when asked to reduce its power output on multiple occasions since 2020. 

 A 150MW battery energy storage system (BESS), to be deployed along with  373MW of solar PV as part of the Cleve Hill Solar Park project, has  reportedly been rejected by the local planning authority in the UK.  

Firefighters have been called today (Saturday) to an incident at a  solar farm in Burton Pedwardine.  Crews were dispatched from Sleaford to a transformer smoking  on a solar farm on Asgarby Road. People in the area have since been  asked to keep all windows and doors closed due to smoke.

  A series of fires that occurred between 2017 and 2019 brought  South  Korea’s energy storage market to a standstill. New research seeks  now to  shed light on all the causes of the accidents and analyzes  several  social factors that may have led to the continuous occurrence  of the  accidents.  

Solar panels in the countryside are disliked by many rural Conservative MPs, and the Observer can reveal that Sunak and environment secretary Thérèse Coffey have revived plans to put new restrictions on this form of cheap renewable energy.

Plans for a large solar farm in North Yorkshire have been rejected following hundreds of objections.

If given the go-ahead, the development, near Malton, would have provided energy for 8,660 homes, Harmony Energy said.

 The UK's round 6 renewable energy auction next month offers a price cap  of 73 pounds/MWh for offshore wind developers after the government  increased the price by 66% following no eligible bids in last year's  auction.  A higher UK price cap is expected to spur competitive bidding in next month’s crucial offshore wind auction. 

 Orsted (ORSTED.CO), opens new tab is expected to trim investment plans and cut dividends on Wednesday as  it presents a new strategy but investors are worried that the Danish  renewable energy firm may want to raise new capital to stick to its  ambitious targets. 

Sir Robert Goodwill says farmers face ‘perfect storm’ and urges Government to look at whether more food can be produced domestically.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has thrown food security into sharp focus, with experts warning that Britain is increasingly vulnerable to volatile prices and one global shock away from a food crisis.

Countryside campaigners have warned that swathes of rural southern England face being ruined by “massive industrialisation” with plans for one of the country’s largest solar farms given the go-ahead.

The approval of plans for a large solar power plant in Oxfordshire has sparked fears of a “tidal wave of solar farms” despoiling rural areas.

Dr Johnson said rural areas had been "plagued" by plans and villages would be surrounded by a "sea" of panels.

She urged the government to reconsider whether it should decide on 50MW-plus schemes instead of local councils, which consider smaller-scale projects.

A councillor has claimed Lincolnshire is being used as a dumping ground for green energy projects that benefit other parts of the country.

Conservative county councillor Colin Davie said the interests of local people should be put first.