Enborne Solar Farm, a proposed community-owned solar farm, has been granted planning permission by West Berkshire Planning Authority.
The solar park will have a capacity of 3MW and will be developed and installed by Calleva Community Energy. At the 20 hectare Enborne Parish Field, owned by the Enborne Parish Field Charity, solar panels will take up around 3.5 hectares of land.
The granting of planning permission marks an important step in a long process for the project, which saw initial community consultation begin in 2021. In July 2023, Trustees of the Enborne Parish Field Charity wrote a letter to the West Berkshire Planning Department stating that they were “strongly supportive” of the solar farm and adding: “Given the climate emergency declared by West Berkshire District Council and Enborne Parish Council’s desire to reduce the parish’s ecological footprint, this is an eminently sensible proposal. ”
The letter added that the farm “would help offset carbon dioxide emissions from the approximately 280 homes in the parish and that the rental income from Calleva will enable the charity to function more significantly in support of other charitable needs within the parish.”
Community energy – that is, energy projects that are local and controlled by member-owned democratic groups – have seen a surge in popularity in recent years.
A report from utility company OVO Energy found that seven in ten people would support locally owned solar projects, and the company is working with several community energy projects in the Bristol area to increase the reach of local community energy projects.
Meanwhile, Bristol Energy Cooperative recently launched its new share issue, in an attempt to raise £1 million. This is Bristol Energy Cooperative’s tenth financing round, and the first in which it collaborates with Triodos Bank. The money from this share issue will be used to add another 1 MW of solar energy to the cooperative’s portfolio. The organization claims this will power almost 300 homes over the next 25 years and generate £130,000 in income for local community projects.
Since 2011, Bristol Energy Cooperative has developed several major projects, including installing solar panels on the roof of the newly renovated Bristol Beacon site.
In response to the rising popularity of community-owned solar, distribution network operator UK Power Networks has launched a new tool to help local authorities identify future sites for community-owned solar farms.
