Island Green Power is seeking public opinions on provisional plans for a nationally significant solar and storage project in South Norfolk.
The renewable energy developer has launched public consultation on early-stage proposals for a 500MW solar development co-located with a battery energy storage system (BESS) that could have up to 500MW output.
The East Pye Solar project will be situated on 1,100 hectares of land south of Norwich and north of Harleston. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels would be installed at two points within this area, approximately 6.5km apart. The smaller of the two, south of Great Moulton, will also be the location of the BESS part of the project, which Island Green says will have an output of up to 500MW.
Due to its generation capacity, East Pye Solar is considered a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP). As part of the application process for the utility-scale development, Island Green will hold several stages of public consultation before submitting proposals for a development consent order (DCO) which will have to be approved by the energy secretary for the project to go ahead.
If consented, the solar PV power plant would connect to the National Grid via a new substation and existing 400kV overhead line that runs between Norwich Main and Bramford substations.
Samantha Jones, project development manager for East Pye Solar, said: “We are committed to developing our proposals with the local community and are pleased to launch the first stage of our consultation, which will run until Friday 6 December 2024.
“The feedback we receive will help us develop our proposals so that the final designs meet the ambition for the project and deliver benefits to the local area – from enhancing the environment to providing direct funding for important causes.”
A DCO application is expected to be submitted in winter 2025. The project’s operational lifespan is expected to be 60 years and Island Green says at the end of that period a decommissioning plan will be enacted, returning the site to its original use.
The non-statutory consultation comes after Island Green revealed plans for the development early in September, just one week after energy secretary Ed Miliband granted the developer a DCO for the 600MW Cottam Solar Project.
The 600MW development will comprise four ground-mounted solar PV generating stations in West Lindsay, Lincolnshire, four on-site substations and a BESS across four separate sites, totalling an area of 1,270 hectares.
A total of seven NSIPs with a combined capacity of just under 2,900MW have now secured consent since Labour’s move to power, including the three NSIPs granted DCOs shortly after the general election. A total of 24 other NSIP solar farms are in the pre-application stage, including another Island Green development at West Burton.
A decision for another one, Ecotricity’s Heckington Fen solar development, had been expected roughly now but was instead delayed to 2025 after the developers requested more time to negotiate with the site’s landowners, the Crown Estate and the Duchy of Lancaster.
