12 May 2011 Britain's biggest solar farm gets go-ahead at £8.5m site near Lincoln ECO-developers have got the green light to build Britain's biggest solar farm on a site near Lincoln.
Stow-based firm FreeWatt will build the 14,544-panel solar field at its Danes Farm headquarters.
The 3.3 megawatt farm is expected to be operational by August 1. Once it is up and running, the panels could produce the equivalent of all the electricity needed by the surrounding villages of Stow, Sturton-by-Stow and Willingham-by-Stow.
FreeWatt managing director Julian Patrick said the installation further strengthened the company's relationship with the community.
He said: "The system has been designed so that it's not visible from public areas.
"We have found the local community to be incredibly supportive, which was very encouraging.
"Solar farms are one of the most reliable methods of meeting this country's increasing electrical energy demands. They are an excellent way to reliably generate electricity over a 25-year period.
"Solar systems are completely passive – they give off no noise or pollution whatsoever and require very little maintenance as they have no moving parts.
"The CO2 associated with the production should be offset after about two years of generation."
FreeWatt submitted plans for the £8.5 million project to West Lindsey District Council in February.
But concerns were raised when the Government announced it was to review its feed-in tariff scheme and possibly cut back subsidies to large solar panel projects. For the full news article and to be taken to the website, click here |