Solar farm near Canterbury given green light

Plans to build a solar farm the size of 78 football pitches on the edge of a village in Kent have been approved.

Energy company Renewable Connections has been given permission by Canterbury City Council (CCC) to build a solar facility, alongside a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).

Covering 56 hectares of land, the Britton Court Solar project near Tyler Hill will supply renewable energy to up to 15,000 homes, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Some residents have told BBC South East they think solar panels might tarnish the character of the area.

Once complete, the array will have an output of up to 38 megawatts (MW), equivalent to the “annual energy needs of up to 15,164 homes,” the developers said.

The BESS would be able to store up to 30MW of solar energy to be deployed into the grid when needed.

Julie Hill, who lives in Canterbury, said she was broadly in favour of renewable energy but not on farmland.

She said: “It’s not right to use farmland for solar panels, they should first be on the roofs of all public buildings like hospitals and schools.

“We need to be more forward-thinking for the next generation.”

Another local, June, said the character of the area would be destroyed if the solar farm building work goes ahead.

“There’s already lots of new homes being built locally. We moved out to the countryside for a quieter life and it seems we may now be losing it,” she said.

Michael Hughes, chief executive officer at Renewable Connections, said: “Once operational, the project will help to tackle the climate emergency in Kent, supplying renewable energy to up to 15,000 homes.

“The site itself will see a biodiversity uplift of over one hundred percent as a result of implementing a package of landscape, ecological, and biodiversity benefits.”