Renewco Power and development partner Locogen today (April 23) announced that planning permission has been granted for a new solar and battery storage project in Fife, Scotland.
The £50 million project, called Glenniston Solar Farm, was given the green light after a detailed consultation period with the local community and experts in several municipalities. The storage location for solar energy and co-located batteries will have a generation capacity of 39MW.
Clara Thompson, senior developer at Renewco, commented: “This is a huge milestone for the project and we are pleased that Fife Council has recognized the many environmental, social and economic benefits of solar energy. We look forward to the project making a substantial contribution to Britain’s green energy transition in the coming years.”
Renewco said the site could power around 18,000 homes, saving around 22,590 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. It also said the project will include biodiversity improvements, provide a local annual community benefit fund of around £23,400 and contribute business rates to the wider Fife community.
Stuart Hamilton, head of developments at Locogen, added: “We are delighted to have received planning permission for the Glenniston solar farm. Solar energy is one of the cheapest and quickly deployable forms of renewable energy. We look forward to continuing with the next phases of the project and further engagement with the local community.”
Confidence in solar energy has declined somewhat as the Scottish Government has reversed its 2030 emissions target. Yet research by Independent Advisor has shown that the number of solar installations in Britain has increased by more than 37% in the past year.
Fife is already home to TagEnergy’s 49.9MW/99.8MWh Pitkevy facility and British Gas has also recently expanded its solar facilities to the country.
In 2021, Solar energy portal reported that Renewco was targeting development of more than 4GW within five years, leveraging initial funding of £24m from SSE. Since launching that year, Renewco has developed a 5GW pipeline from 50 projects.
Solar Power Portal’s publisher Solar Media will host the British Solar Summit on June 4 and 5, 2024 in London. The event will explore Britain’s new utility and rooftop solar landscape, look at the opportunities within a GW+ annual market, and much more. For more information, visit the website.
