2 Somerset sites win solar bids
The government today announced successful bids for green energy projects. Each year it awards a Contracts for Difference round. This is where green energy projects can bid to supply energy at a fixed price to the grid. It is effectively an auction. The lowest bidders are given the contracts to supply energy at the strike price they bid for it. Government says that by agreeing a strike price up front, potential suppliers have certainty. This enables them to make capital commitments knowing what revenue stream they can rely on.
A total of 95 clean energy projects were successful with their bids – up from 93 in the previous round. The latest round had budget funding of £227 million and has secured enough to power the equivalent of 2 million homes. Half of this year’s total capacity has been secured by new solar projects, and two are in Somerset.
Aller Park Solar Farm was one of the smaller projects to win a bid. This is on land next to the existing Aller Court Solar Farm to the west of the village of Aller. With 10MW capacity the owners, Aller Langport Solar Park Limited, bid £47 per MW hour and expect that the energy will come on stream by 2025/26.
The other successful Somerset site was in North Petherton and owned by Enso Green Holdings H Limited. The site is to the east of North Petherton between the M5 and the Bristol/Taunton railway line. This site is much larger with 40MW capacity. They too bid £47 per MW hour for supplying power to the grid. However the estimated start date for the project generating power is a bit further out in 2027/28.
The ENSO site is Impens Farm, North Newton and is 300 acres yet to be built, and will be a blot on the landscape for the next 40+years and beyond. More arable and grazing land lost to the “God of Glass”.