Two Tree Solar Farm

Specialist consultants  looked at the most appropriate areas for development, those being the least visually prominent, those free of restrictive planning designations and areas that can be most appropriately assimilated and screened within the local landscape.

• The development will consist of static rows of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels.
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  The panels will be set to a maximum height of 3m with the bottom of the panels approximately 0.9m from the ground.
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  The panels will be laid out in straight arrays set at an angle of 15 degrees facing south.
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  Arrays will be spaced 3-6 m apart to avoid shadowing with the exact spacing dictated by the topography and undulating character of the site.
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  Grid connection will be made via a 1.5km underground cable route to the Tiverton Junction Substation, located northeast of the site off Willand Road. 
   

Roofs of buildings are a natural place for solar panels to be sited and it is something that we gladly welcome more of. However, there are constraints that slow, or prevent in some cases, the rolling out of rooftop solar at scale.

We categorise these constraints into three separate areas: physical; legal and scalability. Because of the complexities of each of these points it is not possible to give a succinct summary here, however, we are happy to talk any interested parties through these points.

In addition to these constraints, the cost of solar for rooftop is higher compared to that of ground-mounted and, the cost of the energy, therefore, sold on the market translates into higher bills for consumers, ultimately.

Brownfield sites are considered as alternatives but the locations where grid connections are available do not always coincide with such sites. Brownfield sites are also often being held for higher land value uses such as housing or commercial development and are therefore often not able to be made available to the energy industry.

We are facing a climate emergency and that means deploying renewable energy at scale is a necessity. This cannot simply be achieved by development on rooftops or brownfield sites alone. To make a meaningful impact, we believe solar farms must form the backbone of this approach.