Central Bedfordshire Council has approved a 21MW solar PV installation developed by Renewable Connections, a solar and battery developer founded by Armstrong Capital Management.
The planning application for the Lowfield solar farm, submitted in January 2025, received a positive recommendation from the planning officer and was approved by the Council committee earlier this year before being ratified this week.
The Lowfield Solar park will cover approximately 47 hectares of land and is being developed in partnership with the UK subsidiary of Danish renewable energy developer, European Energy.
According to Renewable Connections, the project also comes with a community benefits package of around £42,000.
This is Renewable Connections’ latest project to be approved for construction this year includes a 23.5MW/19MW solar power plant plus storage in Yorkshire in June 2025 and including two battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects, one 52MW in Oxfordshire also in June 2025 and a 90 MW one in Somerset approved earlier this year.
The approval of the Somerset BESS project marked a milestone for the company in February 2025, as it surpassed 1GW of renewable energy projects in the UK.
Michael Hughes, CEO of Renewable Connections, said: “We thank the local community and elected members who have been highly involved and supportive throughout the development process. Their feedback has been integral in shaping the final project design, which will deliver benefits for the environment and the wider community.”
The permission for the Lowfield solar park comes from Great Britain surpassed 14 GW of operational capacity for utility-scale ground-mounted solar. The second quarter of the year recorded the highest operational capacity in a single quarter at 900 MW, while more than 2 GW of utility-scale solar PV reached operational capacity in the first nine months of 2025.
