Community consultation leads to design changes for proposed Boxted Solar Farm

Local community feedback has resulted in design changes to proposed project layout.

RES, a British renewable energy company, has submitted a planning application for its 20 MW Boxted Solar Farm to Barbergh District Council. If consented, the project, situated on land at Boxted, South Suffolk, would be capable of generating clean, low-cost electricity for the equivalent of approximately 8,900 homes every year.

The project proposal includes solar panels, battery storage containers, inverters, a substation, landscape mitigation and biodiversity measures. The proposal has passed through a detailed design process, with results collated from numerous detailed environmental and technical site surveys, in addition to feedback gathered from the local community. Following a consultation period and as a direct result of feedback, several design changes were made to the site layout. These include the removal of some infrastructure and addition of planting in certain areas to minimise potential visibility, and increasing the setback distance from Dripping Pan Wood.

An extensive landscaping plan forms part of the proposal and includes new blocks of woodland, planting of native hedgerow, trees and flower rich grassland areas. These landscaping measures, as well as reducing potential visibility, will provide wildlife corridors and vital resources for mammals, birds, and insect species. These measures, combined with a skylark habitat management area of approximately 70 acres, could deliver a biodiversity net gain of 99% in habitat units and 48% in hedgerow units.

Claire Chamberlain, Development Project Manager at RES commented: "Solar projects like Boxted are quick to install, increase our domestic energy generation and improve our security of supply. If consented, Boxted Solar Farm would save an estimated 13,000 tonnes of CO2 over the project's lifetime helping to tackle the rate of climate change.

About RES

RES, a British company, is active in onshore and offshore wind, solar, green hydrogen, energy storage, transmission and distribution. In its 40-year history, RES has delivered more than 23GW of renewable energy projects world-wide. Employing more than 700 people in the UK alone, it exports its knowledge and skills in the renewables industry to 14 countries across the globe.

For further information about the project, visit https://www.boxted-solarfarm.co.uk/