Stowey Solar Farm

Not at all. Solar provides one of the cheapest forms of electricity in the UK. Last year, solar was over four times cheaper than gas and twice as cheap as nuclear in the UK. Developing solar in the UK also helps to reduce our dependence on imported energy from foreign markets that have been subject to highly volatile price changes in recent years, helping to protect UK businesses and homeowners from rising energy bills in the future.

It varies day to day, depending on the amount of sunshine. For example, on a sunny, summer’s day, solar provides around 50% whereas on a cloudy day it may only be around 20%. Information for last year as a whole shows that solar provided nearly 5% of the country’s energy compared to 14% from nuclear, 31.6% from gas and 28.8% from wind. If you Google ‘GB Generation Mix’, you can find out more. The amount of sunlight the UK receives each year is more consistent than you might think, with generation from solar generally varying by less than 10% each year.

Being one of the cheapest forms of clean renewable energy, a fivefold increase in solar capacity is anticipated by 2050 in the Government’s Energy Security Strategy 2022. This cannot be achieved through rooftop or brownfield solar installation alone. It’s worth bearing in mind that using less than 0.4% of the UK’s existing farmland for solar panels would provide 20% of the UK’s current electricity requirement. The key driver to any solar project location is the ability to connect to the grid. This project represents one of the last available connections for a solar project which can connect this decade, with new grid connections across the south west of the country now facing connection dates of 2036 and beyond. We are therefore exploring low grade agricultural sites that have minimal impact on our food security, as there are no other viable alternative sites which have access to a grid connection to export the power to the national grid.