Two large-scale solar farms blocked

Two large-scale solar farms have been refused planning permission at appeal, in a further blow to a sector grappling with a subsidy review.

The Planning Inspectorate last week refused an appeal to a 10MW, 100-acre solar farm at Tattingstone, Suffolk. That followed a ruling by communities secretary Eric Pickles to dismiss plans for another Suffolk array worth 25MW at Hacheston.

In both cases, the proposed developments were judged to be unsightly and inappropriate use of quality farmland.

Comedian and actor Griff Rhys Jones, who headed a campaign against the Tattenstone development, hailed the decision as a “victory for all our back yards”.

Hive Energy developed both projects before handing over the Tattingstone array to Pegasus Planning.

Tim Purbrick, commercial director at Hive Energy, said: “It is very disappointing. We thought we had made strong enough representations to mitigate the concerns around the visual impact on the landscape.

“The goalposts on solar farms are being moved by the government and it is quite difficult for the industry to see where they are moving them to.”

Meanwhile, sector lobbyists are in talks with government to try and limit the damage from a review of solar subsidies announced last month.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) is closing the Renewable Obligation regime to projects over 5MW from 1 April 2015, forcing developers to instead compete for the new contracts for difference. It said large-scale solar was deploying “much faster than we expected” and could become unaffordable.

This year’s pipeline of solar schemes is “in peril” as a result, said Leonie Greene, head of external affairs at the Solar Trade Association. “It is incredibly destabilising.”

Greene dismissed the affordability argument as “absolute nonsense”, saying solar takes up just 5 per cent of the renewable subsidy budget and Decc was using out-of-date figures.