Govt approves 700-acre Cumbria solar farm
Construction of Ib vogt and Firma Energy’s Dean Moor Solar Farm by Workington will take between 18 months and two years to complete.
Work can start soon, now that the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero have granted a development consent order for the project.
Dean Moor Solar Farm is expected to be capable of generating 150 MegaWatts of energy. That is enough to power more than 50,000 homes, according to IB Vogt and Firma Energy.
The solar farm would be built on 691 acres situated west of the A5086, close to the villages of Gilgarran and Branthwaite Edge. The site is largely grazing land, a use that will continue for the 40 years it is operational as a solar farm.
Energy generated from the solar farm would be exported to Electricity North West’s grid network.
With a promise to deliver more than 10% biodiversity net gain, the solar farm plans include the planting of new trees and hedgerows, the cultivation of a wildflower meadow, and the provision of bird, bat, and invertebrate boxes.
Stantec led the delivery of the DCO application, providing planning and environmental expertise, as well as technical input around landscape, hydrology, noise, transport, ecology, and more.
Stantec’s UK director of environmental planning Robert Devas said: “Our integrated way of working enabled our teams to drive this clean energy project forward collaboratively for our client, resulting in a robust and well-coordinated successful submission.
“Our multidisciplinary approach to this DCO application helped create an environment in which bringing communities and stakeholders along with the design process was treated as a central objective,” he continued. Dean Moor Solar Farm will contribute significantly to the UK’s sustainability goals, while being responsibly planned and designed in relation to the local environment and communities.”
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Ib vogt director of UK and Nordics, Daniel Kiremidjian, noted that Dean Moor Solar Farm is the first of the company’s projects in the UK to secure a DCO.
“This is a significant milestone for Ib vogt in the UK and reflects the hard work of our team and partners, as well as the constructive engagement with local communities and stakeholders throughout the process,” he said.
Kiremidjian took a moment to thank TLT, who provided legal services for the DCO.
“Our success would not have been possible without the dedication, professionalism and knowledge of our legal team at TLT, led by Richard Marsh, who were extremely helpful at every step of the way,” he said.
For his part, Marsh said: “We were pleased to support such an important infrastructure project and to work closely with our partners at Stantec. It is an exciting time to be involved in nationally significant infrastructure, and we are proud to play a role in delivering projects that are critical to the UK’s future energy and infrastructure needs.”
Thursday’s DCO announcement was a big day for TLT, which also secured approval for the Peartree Hill Solar Farm in East Riding of Yorkshire.
TLT partner and head of the future energy sector Maria Connolly said: “These consents also demonstrate the increasingly important role that innovative legal and technical collaboration plays in delivering nationally significant infrastructure…
“We are so proud to be advising on some of the UK’s most impactful energy and infrastructure projects. As investment in renewable energy continues to accelerate, we remain committed to helping clients deliver the large-scale developments that will support the country’s net zero ambitions and future growth.”
You can review the planning documents for Dena Moor Solar Farm on the Planning Inspectorate’s National Infrastructure portal.
Not exactly the sunniest place in the country is the Western Coast of the Lake District but seems the targets outweigh sense.
By Anonymous
Where are the solar panels made?
By Matt
This is so upsetting 😡
By Joyce Smith
What a tragedy. Nearly 700 acres of Farmland covered in Chinese made panels. Nothing to be proud of and certainly not clean energy. Someone do research into the devastation caused by the rare earth metal mining in other parts of the world, polluting rivers and plundering the earth’s surface. These are not farms they are industrialised sites….
By Anonymous
To previous posters, the article says this is grazing land and will remain grazing land. it’s not being built on land for growing crops
By Anonymous
Switzerland is installing panels between railway lines.
No loss of prime agricultural land.
We import almost half our food, in the event of a war we need land buried under solar panels to produce food.
We should require all new commercial buildings to have solar panels so that we don’t was our limited land
By Phillip Ogg
It’s better weather down south like Kent southern counties
By Anonymous
Why not follow Switzerland’s idea, use railway tracks instead of ruining our landscape. But of course that would make too much sense.
By E Carr
Use the space between the tracks… nice idea but…
– The UK needs between 240 and 280 million metres squared of solar panels as part of the wider mix of energy sources going forward.
– The total space available between railtracks (ignoring that much of it wouldn’t be available for reasons such as points, or suitable for reasons such as tunnels) is around 46 million metres squared.
– We’re going to need more railways.
By Anonymous
They are not efficient, lots of land lost for little gain.
Net zero is not possible. Most of the world’s not bothering.
By Tony
Why not use solar panels on walls of buildings also on roundabouts and in car parks? Also have turntable solar panels – these are solar panels built on a ’roundabout’ type base and the solar panel is vertical but can tilt to face the sun and the solar panel moves around and follows the sun – I have seen these in Crete – these turntable systems would leave lots of farmland available to grow crops etc.
By Chris
Not in favour
By Anonymous
@Tony (July 07, 2026 at 5:56 pm)
Not only is net zero entirely possible, it will cost an awful lot less than not doing it. This is an economic fact that has been understood for 2 decades yet the likes of you continue to peddle nonsense pushed by those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. You – and anyone else who agrees with you – are personally responsible for billions in future economic damages and, more importantly, existential harm to the wellbeing of current and future generations of people globally. You should be ashamed.
By Anonymous
Not on good farm land. Get rid of that eco lunatic miliband
By Anonymous
I think a lot of you fail to realise how little land meeting our renewable energy goals will take up, its about 0.6% of the entire country’s land. Additionally, farmland is not ‘natural’, its industrial! No world heritage sites are getting panelled over. Net zero is not the devil that the right wing politicians want you to believe it is.
By Anonymous
So long as it brings down my Utility bills and the livestock continue to safely roam free, I am in favour.
By SolarPanels