Back to list Byers Gill Solar

Representation by Clare Tallentire

Date submitted
25 March 2024
Submitted by
Members of the public/businesses
  1. As a general rule, it takes about 200 acres (80 hectares) to generate the same annual electricity energy through a solar farm as just ONE OFFSHORE wind turbine. This represents a grossly inefficient use of precious land, whatever its quality. But it does mean that we could replace a proposed solar farm by using wind power located in the North Sea and still claim the offsetting of existing carbon rich electricity generation, identified as a benefit by Low Carbon/Pegasus, but without suffering the inefficiencies of solar farms described in these comments The ready availability of surplus North Sea wind power will be introduced and explained. 2. Byers Gill Solar Farm will use 1210 acres of fertile farmland thereby reducing the UK’s valuable food production capacity for forty years and exacerbating food insecurity (now also critically affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine). This issue alone is sufficient reason to ban solar farms automatically on fertile farmland. In justifying their choice of site its simply due to cheap connection to the grid” which may be a cost benefit to them but gives nothing to electricity consumers. 3. Solar farms generate ‘ragged’ electricity because of the random incidence of clouds or overcast skies which restrict electricity generation from the panels. In addition the panels only work during daylight whereas demand for electricity is continuous for 24 hours. Hence, there is a necessity for expensive short term battery storage to concentrate the electricity before it can be input to one of the grids. No consumers would tolerate low voltage/dim lights while they waited for the sun to start shining. 4. With hardly any electricity generated during the winter months, the average energy produced by a solar farm is only 11% of the installed capacity of the panels. Another gross inefficiency. In comparison, a North Sea wind turbine generates over 40% of its rated output on average throughout the year. Although this proposal is for a solar energy farm, the comparison with wind power is very relevant because wind power is landed locally in the area and readily available for transmission where it could cover any local supply deficiencies which might occur around this location if the solar farm is not to be authorised. 5. Solar farms produce their maximum electricity in the summer when demand for electricity is at its lowest, leading to high energy wastage because unused electricity cannot be indefinitely stored like gas - it leaks away. Wind turbines produce their maximum electricity in mid winter when demand for electricity is at its peak - so, much less wastage with wind power. 6. North Sea offshore wind turbines hook directly into the National Grid through onshore sub-stations, mostly, at this stage, located on the East coast. This enhances the UK’s international high voltage security connectivity with Norway, France, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany. In addition, wind farms in the North Sea are connected North and South by a high voltage cable to instantly balance UK supply and demand in the event of particularly serious outages. 7. The Government has already indicated strong support for offshore wind, and its lack of support for solar farms by offering £225.0m of incentives for offshore wind power to meet zero carbon by 2050, rather than inefficient solar power. 8. Wind power expansion has been constrained so far by the lack of shallows in the North Sea. For example,the seaGreen project, just off the Scottish coast, had to set a world record for the length of the legs supporting their new wind turbines. But, now that floating wind turbines have been introduced, this opens up the whole of the North Sea for future wind turbine investment. In comparison, the development of solar farms is seriously restricted by their already profligate use of our scarce countryside. 9. It should be emphasised that being “renewable” does not mean “zero” carbon. Certainly the generation of electricity by wind turbines or solar power is carbon free, but the manufacturing and installation of such farms can incur much CO2 release. This can be measured by a statistic called Embodied Carbon Footprint (ECF) defined by the weight of carbon dioxide released during the introduction of these farms, and then divided by the number of kwhs of electricity expected to be generated during the lifetime of the installation. Presently, this is about 50 gms CO2 per kwh for solar and 7.5 gms CO2 per kwh for wind turbines. The next paragraph discusses how this should be avoided. 10.The National Grid has recently announced that there are so many wind turbines planned for the North Sea that East Anglia will be exporting energy to the rest of the UK sometime soon. There is NO NEED TO APPROVE Byers GILL Solar Farm because this can be totally replaced by wind turbines located in the North Sea, thereby improving efficiency of local renewables and reducing the release of CO2 from local carbon emmisions. CONCLUSIONS IN ESSENCE, THERE IS NO JUSTIFIABLE REASON FOR CONSTRUCTING SOLAR FARMS ON FERTILE FARM LAND BECAUSE FOOD SECURITY MUST REMAIN PARAMOUNT, FOR EVER.SOLAR FARM ENERGY IS HIGHLY INEFFICIENT AND CAN BE REPLACED BY THE SURPLUS WIND ENERGY ANTICIPATED FROM THE NORTH SEA. Offshore wind power is now recognised by Government as the future for large scale renewables in the UK, but solar panels should also be encouraged for millions of existing and future rooves and wasteland - particularly when flexible ‘thin film’ technology is perfected for wrapping around buildings.