The Alternative Green Energy Thread

JKenH

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

Heckington solar farm approved after £5m donation despite huge local opposition. BBC reported the development without mention of the donations made by Dale Vince but the previous night he had been taken to task on BBC Question Time on the subject of donations and political influence. It was unfortunate timing of the announcement for Dale Vince. 

Solar farms are 'slap in the face' - councillor 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8xkppzrxjo

Clip from BBC Question time:

Dale Vince Last night: “I don’t seek influence.” 

Today: Ecotricity Heck Fen Solar Farm Approved

https://x.com/sirwg202110/status/1882922472699465770

Full story about the local battle over the Heckington Solar Farm in this link.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/24/miliband-approves-solar-farm-built-major-labour-donor/


Edited to expand on comments

But is there any objective evidence of "huge opposition"? My impression is more that a small proportion of people make a huge amount of noise either because they are nimbies or have fallen for political-ideological agitation (they see the solar farm as a symbol of something they hate) and the majority either don't really care one way or another or are broadly supportive. This is what surveys tend to show. 

Well, that’s one point of view but from someone at a distance who perhaps had never heard of this or the other solar developments in Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire County Council, representing the people of the county have submitted objections to this and the other solar farms but to no avail. The ideology is not on the part of local residents but the government which nodded one of the developments through within a couple of days of taking office - hardly time to give the matter due consideration.

Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr Martin Hill, added: “Be in no doubt that these are huge-scale developments that will change our county landscapes dramatically. Both proposals are expected to cover around 2000 acres each. The speed with which these decisions have been taken shows that this government is not prepared to listen to communities, local councils and all those fighting for our countryside. The sheer volume of paperwork associated with these proposals means that in no way could these be seen as carefully considered decisions.”

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/1948/council-deeply-disappointed-at-decisions-on-solar-farms

LCC’s reaction to this week’s decision. This is not a few nimbies. 

Two more huge solar farms ‘a slap in the face’ for Lincolnshire

“Adding two more giant solar farms to Lincolnshire’s countryside, which have strong local opposition, shows that this government has not listened to our residents. These two developments add more than 1000 hectares of solar parks to the county, bringing the total land now allocated for 5 approved developments to around 3500 hectares. A further 6400 hectares are also being proposed in Lincolnshire.

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/2220/two-more-huge-solar-farms-a-slap-in-the-face-for-lincolnshire

I'd say that's more like political agitation given it's from opposition politicians than hard evidence. Much more objective I think is the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker: Renewable energy, Spring 2024 which gives the response to the question Whether would be happy for a solar panel farm to be constructed in their local area as:

30% very happy
24% fairly happy
27% wouldn't mind either way
6% fairly unhappy
3% very unhappy
7% don't think this would be possible in my area
4% I don't know enough about them

Personally I don't see what the fuss is about with solar farms with all the hyperbole about. I work out in the countryside where there are a lot of them and they really don't show up much behind the hedgerows. Obviously that's a personal opinion, but the survey seems to indicate it's a common one. However that 3% very unhappy is plenty to make a lot of noise if they want to.

I’ve just had a look at that survey report you linked and quote the following.

People living in rural areas were more likely than those in urban areas to oppose the construction of a local solar panel farm due to a perceived lack of benefit to the local community (45% compared with 29%) and to the local economy (40% compared with 29%), as well as concern about the loss of fertile and agricultural land (20% compared with 10%)

Hardly surprising that people in rural areas object more strongly to solar farms as they are the ones who have to put up with them. Surveying people in towns about these matters is only going to indicate ideological positions. 84% of people live in urban areas and will never have to live near a solar farm or wind farm. The answers in the survey were always going to reflect this. 

ed110220

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

Heckington solar farm approved after £5m donation despite huge local opposition. BBC reported the development without mention of the donations made by Dale Vince but the previous night he had been taken to task on BBC Question Time on the subject of donations and political influence. It was unfortunate timing of the announcement for Dale Vince. 

Solar farms are 'slap in the face' - councillor 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8xkppzrxjo

Clip from BBC Question time:

Dale Vince Last night: “I don’t seek influence.” 

Today: Ecotricity Heck Fen Solar Farm Approved

https://x.com/sirwg202110/status/1882922472699465770

Full story about the local battle over the Heckington Solar Farm in this link.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/24/miliband-approves-solar-farm-built-major-labour-donor/


Edited to expand on comments

But is there any objective evidence of "huge opposition"? My impression is more that a small proportion of people make a huge amount of noise either because they are nimbies or have fallen for political-ideological agitation (they see the solar farm as a symbol of something they hate) and the majority either don't really care one way or another or are broadly supportive. This is what surveys tend to show. 

Well, that’s one point of view but from someone at a distance who perhaps had never heard of this or the other solar developments in Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire County Council, representing the people of the county have submitted objections to this and the other solar farms but to no avail. The ideology is not on the part of local residents but the government which nodded one of the developments through within a couple of days of taking office - hardly time to give the matter due consideration.

Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr Martin Hill, added: “Be in no doubt that these are huge-scale developments that will change our county landscapes dramatically. Both proposals are expected to cover around 2000 acres each. The speed with which these decisions have been taken shows that this government is not prepared to listen to communities, local councils and all those fighting for our countryside. The sheer volume of paperwork associated with these proposals means that in no way could these be seen as carefully considered decisions.”

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/1948/council-deeply-disappointed-at-decisions-on-solar-farms

LCC’s reaction to this week’s decision. This is not a few nimbies. 

Two more huge solar farms ‘a slap in the face’ for Lincolnshire

“Adding two more giant solar farms to Lincolnshire’s countryside, which have strong local opposition, shows that this government has not listened to our residents. These two developments add more than 1000 hectares of solar parks to the county, bringing the total land now allocated for 5 approved developments to around 3500 hectares. A further 6400 hectares are also being proposed in Lincolnshire.

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/2220/two-more-huge-solar-farms-a-slap-in-the-face-for-lincolnshire

I'd say that's more like political agitation given it's from opposition politicians than hard evidence. Much more objective I think is the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker: Renewable energy, Spring 2024 which gives the response to the question Whether would be happy for a solar panel farm to be constructed in their local area as:

30% very happy
24% fairly happy
27% wouldn't mind either way
6% fairly unhappy
3% very unhappy
7% don't think this would be possible in my area
4% I don't know enough about them

Personally I don't see what the fuss is about with solar farms with all the hyperbole about. I work out in the countryside where there are a lot of them and they really don't show up much behind the hedgerows. Obviously that's a personal opinion, but the survey seems to indicate it's a common one. However that 3% very unhappy is plenty to make a lot of noise if they want to.

Bearing in mind the majority of the population live in urban areas, those survey results aren’t that surprising - they won’t be affected by solar farms. In fact the survey demonstrates the level of ideological objection is low and the fact that strength of feeling is so high in Lincolnshire demonstrates the real impact these solar farms will have on the people who live here. 

The other point I think you are missing is the sheer size of the solar farms: not the odd field like you might have seen in your travels, but several square miles. Just have a look at the map below. Virtually the entire area between villages is being covered in solar panels. The individual solar farms on the map below are each bigger than the town of Gainsborough which has a population of 20,000+. The whole character of large areas of countryside is bein* changed overnight. Tillbridge Solar farm (purple on the map) will cover 1200 ha, roughly the size of Heathrow Airport. 

At the meeting of West Lindsey Council to discuss the Tillbridge solar farm, only one councillor dissented to the decision to raise objections to its development. This is not about national politics. Lincolnshire County Council were objecting to these solar farms before Labour came into power. 

The rural-urban factor is covered in the survey: As seen for wind farms, overall unhappiness was higher for those in rural areas (17%) than in urban areas (7%).

 It was still a fairly small minority unhappy in rural areas and not radically different from the 9% nationally. To portray this as town v country doesn't stack up. It would also be interesting to look into how much of the difference is an artifact of the older rural v younger urban demographic, given the survey suggests older people are more likely to be unhappy than younger ones.

JKenH

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

Heckington solar farm approved after £5m donation despite huge local opposition. BBC reported the development without mention of the donations made by Dale Vince but the previous night he had been taken to task on BBC Question Time on the subject of donations and political influence. It was unfortunate timing of the announcement for Dale Vince. 

Solar farms are 'slap in the face' - councillor 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8xkppzrxjo

Clip from BBC Question time:

Dale Vince Last night: “I don’t seek influence.” 

Today: Ecotricity Heck Fen Solar Farm Approved

https://x.com/sirwg202110/status/1882922472699465770

Full story about the local battle over the Heckington Solar Farm in this link.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/24/miliband-approves-solar-farm-built-major-labour-donor/


Edited to expand on comments

But is there any objective evidence of "huge opposition"? My impression is more that a small proportion of people make a huge amount of noise either because they are nimbies or have fallen for political-ideological agitation (they see the solar farm as a symbol of something they hate) and the majority either don't really care one way or another or are broadly supportive. This is what surveys tend to show. 

Well, that’s one point of view but from someone at a distance who perhaps had never heard of this or the other solar developments in Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire County Council, representing the people of the county have submitted objections to this and the other solar farms but to no avail. The ideology is not on the part of local residents but the government which nodded one of the developments through within a couple of days of taking office - hardly time to give the matter due consideration.

Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr Martin Hill, added: “Be in no doubt that these are huge-scale developments that will change our county landscapes dramatically. Both proposals are expected to cover around 2000 acres each. The speed with which these decisions have been taken shows that this government is not prepared to listen to communities, local councils and all those fighting for our countryside. The sheer volume of paperwork associated with these proposals means that in no way could these be seen as carefully considered decisions.”

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/1948/council-deeply-disappointed-at-decisions-on-solar-farms

LCC’s reaction to this week’s decision. This is not a few nimbies. 

Two more huge solar farms ‘a slap in the face’ for Lincolnshire

“Adding two more giant solar farms to Lincolnshire’s countryside, which have strong local opposition, shows that this government has not listened to our residents. These two developments add more than 1000 hectares of solar parks to the county, bringing the total land now allocated for 5 approved developments to around 3500 hectares. A further 6400 hectares are also being proposed in Lincolnshire.

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/2220/two-more-huge-solar-farms-a-slap-in-the-face-for-lincolnshire

I'd say that's more like political agitation given it's from opposition politicians than hard evidence. Much more objective I think is the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker: Renewable energy, Spring 2024 which gives the response to the question Whether would be happy for a solar panel farm to be constructed in their local area as:

30% very happy
24% fairly happy
27% wouldn't mind either way
6% fairly unhappy
3% very unhappy
7% don't think this would be possible in my area
4% I don't know enough about them

Personally I don't see what the fuss is about with solar farms with all the hyperbole about. I work out in the countryside where there are a lot of them and they really don't show up much behind the hedgerows. Obviously that's a personal opinion, but the survey seems to indicate it's a common one. However that 3% very unhappy is plenty to make a lot of noise if they want to.

Bearing in mind the majority of the population live in urban areas, those survey results aren’t that surprising - they won’t be affected by solar farms. In fact the survey demonstrates the level of ideological objection is low and the fact that strength of feeling is so high in Lincolnshire demonstrates the real impact these solar farms will have on the people who live here. 

The other point I think you are missing is the sheer size of the solar farms: not the odd field like you might have seen in your travels, but several square miles. Just have a look at the map below. Virtually the entire area between villages is being covered in solar panels. The individual solar farms on the map below are each bigger than the town of Gainsborough which has a population of 20,000+. The whole character of large areas of countryside is bein* changed overnight. Tillbridge Solar farm (purple on the map) will cover 1200 ha, roughly the size of Heathrow Airport. 

At the meeting of West Lindsey Council to discuss the Tillbridge solar farm, only one councillor dissented to the decision to raise objections to its development. This is not about national politics. Lincolnshire County Council were objecting to these solar farms before Labour came into power. 

The rural-urban factor is covered in the survey: As seen for wind farms, overall unhappiness was higher for those in rural areas (17%) than in urban areas (7%).

 It was still a fairly small minority unhappy in rural areas and not radically different from the 9% nationally. To portray this as town v country doesn't stack up. It would also be interesting to look into how much of the difference is an artifact of the older rural v younger urban demographic, given the survey suggests older people are more likely to be unhappy than younger ones.

I still am of the mind that it is the sheer size of the development that is the problem and would be for most people living nearby. I have no problem with the odd field full of solar panels and perhaps that is what most folk visualise when asked in a survey. I asked Google what was the average size of a solar farm and the most popular answer was they cover between 1 and 100 acres. The 500MW Tillbridge site is around 3000 acres (1200hectares) and there are three more close to it, 500 MW at Gate Burton covering 1690 acres (684ha) and Cottam 600 MW covering 1270 ha and West Burton 480 MW over 788 ha.  https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/planning-building-control/solar-development-proposals-west-lindsey. That is a total of 2080 MW planned over 3942 ha  or 9,740 acres. 

I had a look at Wikipedia and came across this table and you will see that far exceeds the total output of all wind farms over 25 MW in the UK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_Kingdom

Most wind solar farms are less than 5MW and this is the size of wind solar farms most people will be familiar with and would probably be thinking about when asked for an opinion. We are talking in West Lindsey about 4 separate developments each a hundred times bigger than that which would involve over 5 million 400w solar panels. This is huge by comparison to anything most people might comprehend.

While I respect the point you make about the survey I just have to try and explain why people around here are so concerned. In terms of area involved it’s like locating Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester airports and then adding another Heathrow in the few parishes just to the south and east of Gainsborough, completely transforming the landscape and character of a rural area. Most people have chosen to live in the countryside because they want to be in countryside not in the middle of a huge solar farm. It’s not just a few more houses being tagged on the village. I think it’s unfair to call them Nimbies.

paul991

Are we talking wind or solar?

JKenH

paul991 said:

Are we talking wind or solar?

Sorry, I meant solar throughout my post. Now corrected.

Thanks for pointing it out. 

michaels

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

Heckington solar farm approved after £5m donation despite huge local opposition. BBC reported the development without mention of the donations made by Dale Vince but the previous night he had been taken to task on BBC Question Time on the subject of donations and political influence. It was unfortunate timing of the announcement for Dale Vince. 

Solar farms are 'slap in the face' - councillor 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8xkppzrxjo

Clip from BBC Question time:

Dale Vince Last night: “I don’t seek influence.” 

Today: Ecotricity Heck Fen Solar Farm Approved

https://x.com/sirwg202110/status/1882922472699465770

Full story about the local battle over the Heckington Solar Farm in this link.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/24/miliband-approves-solar-farm-built-major-labour-donor/


Edited to expand on comments

But is there any objective evidence of "huge opposition"? My impression is more that a small proportion of people make a huge amount of noise either because they are nimbies or have fallen for political-ideological agitation (they see the solar farm as a symbol of something they hate) and the majority either don't really care one way or another or are broadly supportive. This is what surveys tend to show. 

Well, that’s one point of view but from someone at a distance who perhaps had never heard of this or the other solar developments in Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire County Council, representing the people of the county have submitted objections to this and the other solar farms but to no avail. The ideology is not on the part of local residents but the government which nodded one of the developments through within a couple of days of taking office - hardly time to give the matter due consideration.

Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr Martin Hill, added: “Be in no doubt that these are huge-scale developments that will change our county landscapes dramatically. Both proposals are expected to cover around 2000 acres each. The speed with which these decisions have been taken shows that this government is not prepared to listen to communities, local councils and all those fighting for our countryside. The sheer volume of paperwork associated with these proposals means that in no way could these be seen as carefully considered decisions.”

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/1948/council-deeply-disappointed-at-decisions-on-solar-farms

LCC’s reaction to this week’s decision. This is not a few nimbies. 

Two more huge solar farms ‘a slap in the face’ for Lincolnshire

“Adding two more giant solar farms to Lincolnshire’s countryside, which have strong local opposition, shows that this government has not listened to our residents. These two developments add more than 1000 hectares of solar parks to the county, bringing the total land now allocated for 5 approved developments to around 3500 hectares. A further 6400 hectares are also being proposed in Lincolnshire.

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/2220/two-more-huge-solar-farms-a-slap-in-the-face-for-lincolnshire

I'd say that's more like political agitation given it's from opposition politicians than hard evidence. Much more objective I think is the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker: Renewable energy, Spring 2024 which gives the response to the question Whether would be happy for a solar panel farm to be constructed in their local area as:

30% very happy
24% fairly happy
27% wouldn't mind either way
6% fairly unhappy
3% very unhappy
7% don't think this would be possible in my area
4% I don't know enough about them

Personally I don't see what the fuss is about with solar farms with all the hyperbole about. I work out in the countryside where there are a lot of them and they really don't show up much behind the hedgerows. Obviously that's a personal opinion, but the survey seems to indicate it's a common one. However that 3% very unhappy is plenty to make a lot of noise if they want to.

Bearing in mind the majority of the population live in urban areas, those survey results aren’t that surprising - they won’t be affected by solar farms. In fact the survey demonstrates the level of ideological objection is low and the fact that strength of feeling is so high in Lincolnshire demonstrates the real impact these solar farms will have on the people who live here. 

The other point I think you are missing is the sheer size of the solar farms: not the odd field like you might have seen in your travels, but several square miles. Just have a look at the map below. Virtually the entire area between villages is being covered in solar panels. The individual solar farms on the map below are each bigger than the town of Gainsborough which has a population of 20,000+. The whole character of large areas of countryside is bein* changed overnight. Tillbridge Solar farm (purple on the map) will cover 1200 ha, roughly the size of Heathrow Airport. 

At the meeting of West Lindsey Council to discuss the Tillbridge solar farm, only one councillor dissented to the decision to raise objections to its development. This is not about national politics. Lincolnshire County Council were objecting to these solar farms before Labour came into power. 

The rural-urban factor is covered in the survey: As seen for wind farms, overall unhappiness was higher for those in rural areas (17%) than in urban areas (7%).

 It was still a fairly small minority unhappy in rural areas and not radically different from the 9% nationally. To portray this as town v country doesn't stack up. It would also be interesting to look into how much of the difference is an artifact of the older rural v younger urban demographic, given the survey suggests older people are more likely to be unhappy than younger ones.

I still am of the mind that it is the sheer size of the development that is the problem and would be for most people living nearby. I have no problem with the odd field full of solar panels and perhaps that is what most folk visualise when asked in a survey. I asked Google what was the average size of a solar farm and the most popular answer was they cover between 1 and 100 acres. The 500MW Tillbridge site is around 3000 acres (1200hectares) and there are three more close to it, 500 MW at Gate Burton covering 1690 acres (684ha) and Cottam 600 MW covering 1270 ha and West Burton 480 MW over 788 ha.  https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/planning-building-control/solar-development-proposals-west-lindsey. That is a total of 2080 MW planned over 3942 ha  or 9,740 acres. 

I had a look at Wikipedia and came across this table and you will see that far exceeds the total output of all wind farms over 25 MW in the UK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_Kingdom

Most wind solar farms are less than 5MW and this is the size of wind solar farms most people will be familiar with and would probably be thinking about when asked for an opinion. We are talking in West Lindsey about 4 separate developments each a hundred times bigger than that which would involve over 5 million 400w solar panels. This is huge by comparison to anything most people might comprehend.

While I respect the point you make about the survey I just have to try and explain why people around here are so concerned. In terms of area involved it’s like locating Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester airports and then adding another Heathrow in the few parishes just to the south and east of Gainsborough, completely transforming the landscape and character of a rural area. Most people have chosen to live in the countryside because they want to be in countryside not in the middle of a huge solar farm. It’s not just a few more houses being tagged on the village. I think it’s unfair to call them Nimbies.

My understanding is that solar farms produce a lot less noise disturbance and pollution than airports.

I believe the area suggested above is 3.4% of the total area of West Lindsey.

The population of West Lindsey is below 100k compared to the multiple millions who are impacted by London Heathrow.

JKenH

michaels said:

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

ed110220 said:

JKenH said:

Heckington solar farm approved after £5m donation despite huge local opposition. BBC reported the development without mention of the donations made by Dale Vince but the previous night he had been taken to task on BBC Question Time on the subject of donations and political influence. It was unfortunate timing of the announcement for Dale Vince. 

Solar farms are 'slap in the face' - councillor 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8xkppzrxjo

Clip from BBC Question time:

Dale Vince Last night: “I don’t seek influence.” 

Today: Ecotricity Heck Fen Solar Farm Approved

https://x.com/sirwg202110/status/1882922472699465770

Full story about the local battle over the Heckington Solar Farm in this link.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/24/miliband-approves-solar-farm-built-major-labour-donor/


Edited to expand on comments

But is there any objective evidence of "huge opposition"? My impression is more that a small proportion of people make a huge amount of noise either because they are nimbies or have fallen for political-ideological agitation (they see the solar farm as a symbol of something they hate) and the majority either don't really care one way or another or are broadly supportive. This is what surveys tend to show. 

Well, that’s one point of view but from someone at a distance who perhaps had never heard of this or the other solar developments in Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire County Council, representing the people of the county have submitted objections to this and the other solar farms but to no avail. The ideology is not on the part of local residents but the government which nodded one of the developments through within a couple of days of taking office - hardly time to give the matter due consideration.

Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr Martin Hill, added: “Be in no doubt that these are huge-scale developments that will change our county landscapes dramatically. Both proposals are expected to cover around 2000 acres each. The speed with which these decisions have been taken shows that this government is not prepared to listen to communities, local councils and all those fighting for our countryside. The sheer volume of paperwork associated with these proposals means that in no way could these be seen as carefully considered decisions.”

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/1948/council-deeply-disappointed-at-decisions-on-solar-farms

LCC’s reaction to this week’s decision. This is not a few nimbies. 

Two more huge solar farms ‘a slap in the face’ for Lincolnshire

“Adding two more giant solar farms to Lincolnshire’s countryside, which have strong local opposition, shows that this government has not listened to our residents. These two developments add more than 1000 hectares of solar parks to the county, bringing the total land now allocated for 5 approved developments to around 3500 hectares. A further 6400 hectares are also being proposed in Lincolnshire.

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/2220/two-more-huge-solar-farms-a-slap-in-the-face-for-lincolnshire

I'd say that's more like political agitation given it's from opposition politicians than hard evidence. Much more objective I think is the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker: Renewable energy, Spring 2024 which gives the response to the question Whether would be happy for a solar panel farm to be constructed in their local area as:

30% very happy
24% fairly happy
27% wouldn't mind either way
6% fairly unhappy
3% very unhappy
7% don't think this would be possible in my area
4% I don't know enough about them

Personally I don't see what the fuss is about with solar farms with all the hyperbole about. I work out in the countryside where there are a lot of them and they really don't show up much behind the hedgerows. Obviously that's a personal opinion, but the survey seems to indicate it's a common one. However that 3% very unhappy is plenty to make a lot of noise if they want to.

Bearing in mind the majority of the population live in urban areas, those survey results aren’t that surprising - they won’t be affected by solar farms. In fact the survey demonstrates the level of ideological objection is low and the fact that strength of feeling is so high in Lincolnshire demonstrates the real impact these solar farms will have on the people who live here. 

The other point I think you are missing is the sheer size of the solar farms: not the odd field like you might have seen in your travels, but several square miles. Just have a look at the map below. Virtually the entire area between villages is being covered in solar panels. The individual solar farms on the map below are each bigger than the town of Gainsborough which has a population of 20,000+. The whole character of large areas of countryside is bein* changed overnight. Tillbridge Solar farm (purple on the map) will cover 1200 ha, roughly the size of Heathrow Airport. 

At the meeting of West Lindsey Council to discuss the Tillbridge solar farm, only one councillor dissented to the decision to raise objections to its development. This is not about national politics. Lincolnshire County Council were objecting to these solar farms before Labour came into power. 

The rural-urban factor is covered in the survey: As seen for wind farms, overall unhappiness was higher for those in rural areas (17%) than in urban areas (7%).

 It was still a fairly small minority unhappy in rural areas and not radically different from the 9% nationally. To portray this as town v country doesn't stack up. It would also be interesting to look into how much of the difference is an artifact of the older rural v younger urban demographic, given the survey suggests older people are more likely to be unhappy than younger ones.

I still am of the mind that it is the sheer size of the development that is the problem and would be for most people living nearby. I have no problem with the odd field full of solar panels and perhaps that is what most folk visualise when asked in a survey. I asked Google what was the average size of a solar farm and the most popular answer was they cover between 1 and 100 acres. The 500MW Tillbridge site is around 3000 acres (1200hectares) and there are three more close to it, 500 MW at Gate Burton covering 1690 acres (684ha) and Cottam 600 MW covering 1270 ha and West Burton 480 MW over 788 ha.  https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/planning-building-control/solar-development-proposals-west-lindsey. That is a total of 2080 MW planned over 3942 ha  or 9,740 acres. 

I had a look at Wikipedia and came across this table and you will see that far exceeds the total output of all wind farms over 25 MW in the UK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_Kingdom

Most wind solar farms are less than 5MW and this is the size of wind solar farms most people will be familiar with and would probably be thinking about when asked for an opinion. We are talking in West Lindsey about 4 separate developments each a hundred times bigger than that which would involve over 5 million 400w solar panels. This is huge by comparison to anything most people might comprehend.

While I respect the point you make about the survey I just have to try and explain why people around here are so concerned. In terms of area involved it’s like locating Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester airports and then adding another Heathrow in the few parishes just to the south and east of Gainsborough, completely transforming the landscape and character of a rural area. Most people have chosen to live in the countryside because they want to be in countryside not in the middle of a huge solar farm. It’s not just a few more houses being tagged on the village. I think it’s unfair to call them Nimbies.

My understanding is that solar farms produce a lot less noise disturbance and pollution than airports.

I believe the area suggested above is 3.4% of the total area of West Lindsey.

The population of West Lindsey is below 100k compared to the multiple millions who are impacted by London Heathrow.

I wouldn’t disagree with that. The reference to airports (“in terms of area” were my words) was to try and give some idea of the scale of the development. It is hard to visualise 3000 acres or 1200ha or even 1875 football pitches but the size of Heathrow airport might give some people an idea of just how big these solar farms are. 

QrizB

JKenH said:

It is hard to visualise 3000 acres or 1200ha or even 1875 football pitches but the size of Heathrow airport might give some people an idea of just how big these solar farms are.

100 hectares is a square kilometre. An OS grid square, if you think that way.

So 1200ha is 12 OS grid squares, a box 3km x 4km.

(This isn't an attempt to argue, just another way to visualise the area.)

This OS map extract contains 12 complete grid squares, plus some fractional ones around the periphery.

QrizB

JKenH said:

I still am of the mind that it is the sheer size of the development that is the problem and would be for most people living nearby. I have no problem with the odd field full of solar panels and perhaps that is what most folk visualise when asked in a survey. I asked Google what was the average size of a solar farm and the most popular answer was they cover between 1 and 100 acres. The 500MW Tillbridge site is around 3000 acres (1200hectares) and there are three more close to it, 500 MW at Gate Burton covering 1690 acres (684ha) and Cottam 600 MW covering 1270 ha and West Burton 480 MW over 788 ha.  https://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/planning-building-control/solar-development-proposals-west-lindsey. That is a total of 2080 MW planned over 3942 ha  or 9,740 acres.

I wonder why Tillbridge at 420kW/ha has ~half the effective density of Gate Burton at 730kW/ha?

The average density is 530kW/ha, 53W/sq.m. which is roughly 1/4 of the panel efficiency. I'm surprised by how low that is. Unless there's significant land put aside for biodiversity, recreation and other amenity purposes?

Edit to add:

The Tillbridge scheme website states:

Principal Site – covering an area of approximately 1,400 hectares (ha), the Principal Site comprises 900 ha of developable area (where all solar PV panels and associated infrastructure would be located), and 500 ha of non-developable areas (which is being considered for environmental mitigation and enhancement measures).

So only 900ha will be developed. That gives an effective density of 560kW/ha, still not as high as Gate Burton but somewhat better than I'd previously thought.

JKenH

Continuing my theme of future electricity prices, I recently came across this post shared by Kathryn Porter (of Watt-Logic) on Twitter. I presume there is some substance to the figures but no doubt someone will be able to prove me wrong. 

https://x.com/kathrynporter26

I was looking for what the impact of government policies was 10 years ago and found this from 2014. Government policies actually reduced bills.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/policy-impacts-on-prices-and-bills

Something else I came across recently and hadn’t really picked up on before was that OFGEM in 2023 reduced  the Typical Domestic Consumption Value from 2900 kWh to 2700kWh, to reflect reduced consumption. This followed an earlier reduction from 3100 kWh. I don’t know the date but it was after 2019. This didn’t receive a great deal of publicity but has effectively reduced the much publicised price cap by 13% and given the impression that electricity prices haven’t risen as much as they have in reality.