Renewable energy developer Innova has revealed that it received planning permission from Staffordshire Moorlands District Council earlier this year to expand its solar and energy storage project, Blythe Solar Farm.
Expansion plans will see an additional solar array increase the development’s solar capacity by 16.6 MW, bringing the total approved capacity to 44.3 MWp of solar, in addition to a 30 MW battery energy storage system (BESS). The initially approved application for the 27.7 MW solar PV and 30 MW energy storage project received unanimous planning approval in February 2023.
Rob Parish, senior project manager at Innova, said the plan is “on track” for energy supply by 2027. He added: “The plan […] will also make a significant contribution to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council’s target to be carbon neutral by 2030.”
Innova’s focus is on utility-scale renewable energy projects and the company has more than 60 distribution network operators (DNOs) and transmission grid-connected sites under development in Britain, with a combined capacity of more than 18 GW.
After signing a joint venture with ReneSola Power to develop a pipeline of utility-scale solar projects in the UK in November 2020, Innova sold its portfolio of 57 commercial rooftop solar PV assets to an investment vehicle managed by Octopus Renewables .
Second approval for an Innova project
The company further shared that its 22MW solar project in Taunton, Ham Farm Solar Park, also received planning permission earlier this year. It was the second project for which Innova received planning permission from Somerset Council this year. Parish called the second approval “a fantastic result for Innova.”
The biodiversity strategy for the area delivers a net biodiversity gain (GNH) of 19% for habitats and 16% for hedgerows on site – well above England’s mandatory 10% GNH requirement.
Combined with the other Somerset project, North Preston Solar Park, Innova’s Somerset portfolio will total 47 MW.
At the beginning of this year, Innova obtained planning permission for three solar energy projects, amounting to 61.5 MW, in East Suffolk, Essex and Scotland. The Essex project, Parkgate Farm Solar Park, was approved despite some opposition from the district council.
According to Innova, Braintree District Council was unable to make progress and approve the planning application within the extended timeframes. For example, after 18 months the developer had to appeal to the Spatial Inspectorate against the lack of a decision on the application.
Following this, the council said it had refused the farm due to “concerns about its heritage and impact on the landscape”.
The appointed inspector agreed with Innova’s submission, which stated that the “landscape and visual impact is limited to the site and the immediate local landscape” and that the limited impact on the listed building’s surroundings was “compensated by generating the public benefits of renewable energy.”
Labour’s proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) state that renewable energy generation is a “critical national policy infrastructure”, stating that “national security, economic, commercial and net zero benefits” generally outweigh any implications.
