Plans for Britain’s largest floating solar farm has been given the go-ahead to be built in Barrow.
Associated British Ports wants to create the solar array off the town’s Cavendish Dock.
It will cover around a third of the available water area in the dock and would be made up of around 46,500 panels, mounted on floating pontoons which would be secured to the base of the dock by an anchoring system.
The application was discussed by Westmorland & Furness Council’s strategic planning committee on Monday and unanimously approved.
A report to the committee said the array would have a 50-year lifespan. After this period, the site would be decommissioned.
The Barrow EnergyDock development would have a generating capacity of 35-40MWp.
The report added: “Electricity demand at ABP’s ports is expected to increase materially in the coming years due to continuing electrification of existing port activity.
“At the Port of Barrow they have recently launched an ambitious masterplan to drive growth and strengthen the local economy in response to a wave of significant investment coming to the region by 2040 and beyond.
“Their first major project from the masterplan is the proposed floating solar array as applied for, with the intended recipient of the power being BAE Systems,
to strengthen their decarbonisation efforts.”
ABP announced its plans in March this year and said if approval was granted, work would take around 12 months to create the array.
The site is used by Barrow Angling Association and other recreational users.
Associated British Ports said it consulted with the angling association to ensure any potential impacts on activities around the dock were minimised or mitigated where possible.
It added: “While there may be some temporary impacts during the construction phase on the recreational receptors using the dock, these are predicted to be short term and will only impact a modest section of the wider dock area, allowing fishing activities to continue, as well as public access to the walkways to continue.”
