OPINION: Solar farms are an electrifying topic

So this last couple of weeks has seen a spurt of applications regarding placing solar panels on fields in the area.

There are pros and cons to this but in my opinion, there is an increasing need for green energy – yes climate change is real – and the more we can generate from wind and solar the less we need to burn fossil fuels. This is a good thing.

Yes, we should be adding solar onto new build houses and industry as a matter of course. Yes, these must remain in the ownership of the person who owns the house, as opposed to being owned by the builders, installers or an investment company and yes, people should be able to opt out.

Solar panel technology has taken some big strides in recent years and the effectiveness of the panels is far better than it was a decade ago. They are effective and very efficient, providing more for less.

Should we be putting them all over car parks, existing buildings and factories? Yes.

Also suitable brownfield sites should be preferred, but not to the point of only brownfield sites being able to be used.

The issue with this is that putting them on existing buildings will need more work, compared to a field. You have to adapt the roof, especially if you want a flush fitting, you are working at height, meaning scaffolding and trained roofers being involved. This then pushes the price of installation up before you hire the qualified electricians to install the battery set-up and connect it up to your electricity supply.

This makes it much more expensive than a ground based installation, plus many industrial sites have fragile roofs so would need a lot of work to install. More work means more cost.

So we are back to fields, excellent. Most of the fields I am seeing being earmarked are used for sheep. They are not high grade, high production areas so they are not premium farmland.

Solar panels will not create toxic run off, cause a fire hazard or kill all the plants and ecosystem in the area are other objections I’ve seen. At worst, they may stop a little growth but as they are raised at an angle to best catch the sun they will allow plants to grow underneath.

Is solar perfect? No. Is this a better solution to building a massive fossil fuel power plant, that pushes extra CO2 into the atmosphere, requires a massive infrastructure of road or rail for its supplies, cooling towers, ranks of pylons and billions of cubic metres of concrete? Yes. The impact is far smaller, much less waste to recycle, smaller impact on the environment, landscape, views.

Think if instead of a few solar farms we had a new power station being built. Now that would have a massive footprint, it would require new roads to be built, it would completely remove any decent farmland that it was on, it would likely cause massive noise, light and chemical pollution with the added risks that any industrial plant brings. Then after the end of its life, it needs demolishing, all that concrete, steel, chemicals and the rest removed. The task is huge, and so is the removal.

The other benefit of solar or any smaller scale supply is that it can be more local. If you can feed the supply into a local substation then you are cutting out the huge losses that are incurred by sending the power long distances by overhead power lines.

In 2022 approximately 8% of all electricity generated in the UK was lost through transmission. 25 terawatt hours, so any locally generated power is more efficient. The possibility of SMR nuclear reactors that could be built closer to population centres would also aid in this in the future.

There is so much poor understanding and misinformation around.

Saying Cumbria isn’t sunny or they don’t work in the rain is rubbish as like your old solar calculator they work in daylight.

The argument that the farmland should be used for growing crops is also flawed. It isn’t being used for that now, most are used for grazing livestock and you can still have sheep around the panels (let’s face it this is Cumbria, chances are it will be sheep) so the farmer is doubling their income.

We read a lot that farmers are struggling, they are losing support and grants so why shouldn’t they add an extra crop to their farm one that brings in more money and allows them to continue?

They will put up massive fences and CCTV, really? Why? There are already a number of solar farms in Cumbria and those I’ve seen have nothing more than what you’d expect, a hawthorn hedge and a farm gate. They also won’t stop you accessing public footpaths.

It doesn’t work at night, we know, but peak electricity usage is through the day. These solar farms aren’t going to replace traditional power generation, but lessen our reliance on it, and stop us burning more fossil fuels. Why wouldn’t anyone want that?

Be honest, the real reason you don’t want them is because you think that they will spoil your view.

From a distance you may see that the field looks darker, like its freshly ploughed or like a planting with a polytunnel over it, nothing much else to see.

We all are using more electricity and despite many electrical devices becoming more efficient. We have more TVs that are bigger, more phones, smart devices, bigger fridges and EVs. Demand for electricity isn’t going to go away.

Woof woof!