Representation by Maria Prior
- Date submitted
- 26 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Whilst I am not in principle against renewable power, the plans for this solar farm and the combined solar desert it is part of makes no sense. The land for this proposed site is highly productive arable farm land. I live and regularly walk in this area and every single field involved is used to grow a valuable grain or vegetable crop; this is not unusable scrub land! Lincolnshire is not short of brownfield sites, having numerous disused airfields and the Cottam Powerstation site itself, but instead of looking to use these, which is industry best practice, the developers propose to take an easier, cheaper option of industrialising 1000s of acres of Lincolnshire to produce approximately 11% of peak power generation on a cloudless summer day. During cold winter nights, no power will be produced by this solar desert and the companies involved have admitted at consultation events that power cannot be stored for more than a few hours. Thus, my issues are two-fold. Firstly, that the true peak power generation by this solar desert is pathetic, especially when compared to the vastly more productive renewable industry of off-shore wind. So it is not going to be of net benefit in terms of power generation. Secondly, in order to generate pathetic amounts of power they propose to industrialise vast areas of productive farmland, not only taking that land out of production, at a time when the UK needs productive farm land more than ever, but filling it with 4.5 metre tall solar panels which, on the flat, wide open landscapes of this part of Lincolnshire will forever blight this once beautiful rural area.