Renewco Power and development partner Locogen announced today (23 April) that planning permission has been granted for a new solar and battery storage project in Fife, Scotland.
The £50 million project, dubbed Glenniston Solar Farm, was greenlit after a detailed consultation period with the local community and experts across various councils. The solar and co-located battery storage site will have a generating capacity of 39MW.
Clara Thompson, senior developer at Renewco, commented: “This is a huge milestone for the project and we are delighted Fife Council has recognised the many environmental, social and economic benefits of solar energy. We look forward to the project making a substantial contribution to the UK’s green energy transition over the coming years.”
Renewco said the site could power around 18,000 homes, which equates to roughly 22,590 tonnes of carbon emission savings a year. It also said the project will incorporate biodiversity enhancements, offer a local annual community benefit fund of about £23,400 and contribute business rates to the wider Fife community.
Stuart Hamilton, head of developments at Locogen, added: “We are delighted to have received planning approval for the Glenniston solar farm. Solar energy is one of the lowest cost and quickly deployable forms of renewable energy. We look forward to continuing with the next phases of the project and further engagement with the local community.”
Faith in solar has been somewhat reduced by the Scottish government’s backtracking on its 2030 emissions target. Still, research by Independent Advisor has shown that solar installations in the UK increased by over 37% in the last year.
Fife is already home to TagEnergy’s 49.9MW/99.8MWh Pitkevy facility and British Gas recently extended its solar provisions into the country, too.
In 2021, Solar Power Portal reported that Renewco was targeting the development of more than 4GW within five years, making use of an initial £24 million funding from SSE. Since launching that year, Renewco has developed a 5GW pipeline from 50 projects.
