Plans for a massive solar farm in West Cumbria have been approved by the government.
The farm, set to be built on Dean Moor, has secured development consent from the secretary of state for energy, security and net zero.
It is set to be around 276.5 hectares – which is comparable to 683.25 acres or 387 football pitches.
Its developers said the farm will have the potential to power over 50,000 homes a year.
The developers added that the construction of the site would also include landscape and biodiversity enhancements.
Dean Moor Solar Farm, situated between Gilgarran and Branthwaite, is a joint venture between Firma Energy Ltd and ib vogt UK Ltd, coming together under Firma Vogt Solar.
The plans were submitted to the planning inspectorate in March last year.
They were later accepted for examination in April last year following a formal, statutory public consultation.
The examination gave the public, statutory consultees and interested parties the opportunity to give evidence to the examining authority.
Recommendations were then made to the secretary of state at the start of April this year.
The examining authority listened and gave full consideration to all local views and the evidence gathered during the examination before making its recommendation to the secretary of state.
Daniel Kiremidjian, head of UK and Nordics at ib vogt GmbH, said: “We are delighted that development consent has been granted for Dean Moor Solar Farm.
“This is a significant milestone for ib vogt in the UK and reflects the hard work of our team and partners, as well as the constructive engagement with local communities and stakeholders throughout the process.
“This marks a major milestone: the first project within ib vogt UK to achieve a development consent order from the planning inspectorate, a significant achievement for our growing UK pipeline.
“Dean Moor will make a meaningful contribution to the UK’s clean energy transition, and we look forward to progressing to the next phase of delivery.”
