Developer of Renewable Energie Low Carbon has submitted a planning application for his Beacon Fen Energy Park to the British government.
The proposed development, which is located on land east of SLEABORD, Lincolnshire, will consist of a 400 MW solar -PV energy plant and battery energy storage system (BESS) with a capacity of approximately 600 MW.
As the capacity of solar generation of the sun section of the development is more than 50 MW, the project is classified as a nationally important infrastructure project (NSIP) and therefore requires a more extensive assessment process via the Planning Inspectorate and the State Secretary for Energy.
Now the planning inspection will assess the application and decide whether it will be accepted for consideration and will publish its decision on or before 6 May 2025. If the project is accepted, the NSIP consideration process starts.
The pre-examination phase, in which the research authority arranges dates for future hearings in the application and sets deadlines for comments, usually takes about three months. The research phase – if anyone who wishes can submit comments about the proposed project – is expected to take approximately six months. The following two phases, the recommendation and decision phases, are expected to take approximately three months each.
The submitted proposal differs somewhat from the original plans of Low Carbon. After first non-statutory consultation and resulting feedback, the scope of the project has been reduced, with low carbon choosing to remove the proposal for part of the project known as Beacon Fen South of the application. What was previously known as Beacon Fen North has now been submitted for consideration.
Solar -Energy Portal has contacted Low Carbon for comment, but has not received a response from the publication of this story.
Large movements ahead for Solar NSIPs
Less than five months in 2025 and the British sun sector has already made some significant progress on a number of NSIP developments in solar energy.
At the end of last month, the planning inspection revealed that the two PV energy plants on solar energy on solar energy had accepted for consideration, with a total generation capacity of more than 1 GW.
The first of these comes from the German developer of renewable energy RWE, which has set plans for a 320 MW solar PV electricity power plant in the eastern riding on Yorkshire, the Solar Farm from Pertree Hill. This project, planned for about eight miles northwest of Hull, will also have a co-located Bess.
In the meantime, PS -renewable energy sources and Ørsted have had plans for their proposed 740MW One Earth Solar Farm in Nottinghamshire accepted to consider the planning inspection. If a development assignment (DCO) is granted for this project, this could be one of the largest PV energy plants in the UK. This project will also contain a co-located Bess, but the capacity and duration of this system have not yet been revealed.
