Frodsham solar farm could power 4% of Cheshire homes annually
Innova Renewables Developments’ proposals could see 136.5 acres of farmland used to power 5,700 local homes and offset nearly 5,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
Plans for south-facing linear arrays and an energy storage facility at Ashton Grange Farm in Frodsham will be considered by both Cheshire West and Chester Council and Halton Council – although only 1.7 acres of the site lie in the latter.
The project would have a 20MW energy capacity and sufficient ‘overplanting’ of solar panels to allow for full power generation throughout the year, according to planning documents.
An economic impact assessment complied by planning consultant Lichfields states the scheme will provide 23,155MWh annually, or 63MWh a day.
The statement adds that on a 2022 estimate of the council’s housing stock, a count of roughly 150,000 properties, the proposed solar farm “has the potential to meet the energy needs of 4% of all households in the local area using renewable energy sources”.
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Full connection to the grid is planned but energy would be prioritised for local use. To the farm’s north, Whitehouse Industrial Estate is set to benefit from the renewable energy.
Construction of the project would generate £3.4m of locally retained GVA, creating 60 construction and 80 supply chain jobs across its duration.
Applications for solar farms are prevalent across the region – a 27-acre facility in Widnes was approved by Halton Council in January, while a 360-acre array known as ‘Butterfly’ is under consultation near Wrexham.
The project team includes Tyler Grange, Amet Property, Orion, Evoke, Hydro Solutions, InAcoustic, Neo Environmental, RPS, and Pegasus.
To view Innova Renewables’ application, use the planning reference 24/03807/FUL on Cheshire West and Chester Council’s planning portal.
More madness, solar is off when you need it most and on when you don’t – you can’t store the power and the grid is becoming more and more unstable with massive balancing costs.
By Stuart wood
We will all be starving
By Anonymous
Stuart Wood, you clearly haven’t got a clue how solar farms operate and produce a return on investment. I’d stick to telling everyone that the world is flat.
By Anonymous
The world isn’t flat and unreliable electricity electricity supply is pushing up the cost of electricity for domestic and business alike- the world renewable energy sector is still massively over reliant of subsidies and constrain payments- even after decades of “investment”
By Stuart wood
The world bank solar suitability survey agrees with me – it ranks the uk bottom of global league for solar suitability
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/energy/publication/solar-photovoltaic-power-potential-by-country
By Stuart wood
Stuart – maybe the people in charge of building this know more than a guy in a comments section? Just a thought
By Anonymous