Solar farm gets go-ahead on site of former Fresh Guernsey Herbs
A PLANNED solar farm in St Sampson’s has moved one step closer, after planning permission was granted for solar arrays on a glasshouse site.
Such developments may help Guernsey reach a 2025 climate change goal for on-island production.
But planners have put 11 conditions on the approval, in a bid to control noise and the appearance of the site.
And the panels must be removed once they are no longer needed.
The former Fresh Guernsey Herbs site on Les Abreuveurs Road currently has 10 large glasshouses, as well as outbuildings, but under the plans most structures would be demolished to make way for the arrays.
Panels up to 2.4m high can go up, which would be in rows 3.5m wide.
Peter Barnes, head of energy and climate change at the States, supported the scheme.
‘The development is of a significant scale in the context of Guernsey for solar, with available land for large scale projects being limited,’ he stated in the planning report.
‘It is understood that we are approximately 50% of the way to the 2025 target of 5MW total installed solar within the island, and the development of this project would enable the achievement of the target. It is unlikely, without a large-scale site, that we will hit the target otherwise.’
Guernsey Electricity currently operates a number of community solar projects totalling installed capacity of about 600kW, which fulfils about 0.1% of the island’s annual energy requirements.
‘A 2.965MWp installation would lead to around 0.5% of total electricity to be generated by solar on-island,’ Mr Barnes said.
‘This represents a significant increase in the proportion of on-island renewables providing power into the network.’
There were concerns from neighbours, with one household submitting letters on behalf of six neighbours.
They supporting the local production of renewable energy, but raised concerns about the amount of noise that would come from wind flowing over the arrays, as well as noise from the plant room.
They rejected the argument that the area was built up, and stated that removing the glasshouses would markedly add to open green spaces of the area.
The Office of Environmental Health and Pollution Regulation stated that if residents were impacted by vibration from plant and machinery when the facility was operational, then it could be investigated by the office under the statutory nuisance provisions.
Guernsey Water did not object to the plans, but did put a number of pollution prevention measures in place.
The site is close to a stream within the Marais stream raw water catchment area.
Agriculture, Countryside & Land Management Services raised concerns about the environmental statement, noting that no baseline study had been carried out to understand the current ecological value of the site.
But the planners gave their backing to the scheme, while setting out 11 conditions, mainly aimed at reducing the impact on neighbours.
A construction environmental management plan must be produced to help manage noise and dust during the clearance and construction, and noise must not exceed level 5dB above the existing background noise level.
Looking at the longer term, the planners stated that within six months of the site stopping being used for a solar array, all panels and associated structures must be removed, and the land must be re-instated for agricultural use within a year.
‘Permission for the solar array has been granted on the basis that the proposal represents a temporary use of agricultural land,’ the report stated.
