RES listens, responds and submits plans for Chimmens Solar Farm
RES, a British renewable energy company, has submitted a planning application for its 49.9 MW Chimmens Solar Farm, located on land between Horton Kirby and Fawkham, Sevenoaks. The plans were submitted following a period where RES invited feedback from the local community, which included a public exhibition held on the 10th July in Fawkham, on the design of the proposed solar farm. The feedback received from the community as well as input from the technical and environmental site assessments resulted in several changes that have enhanced the final design.
The changes made by RES, a company employing more than 700 people in the UK alone, includes new native woodland planting on the northern boundary, and a change to the inverter and energy storage locations to use existing mature hedgerows as immediate screening. Additionally, RES has said it has achieved increased buffers from residential properties to the northwest of the site and has included over 35 acres of habitat creation for Skylark. Overall, RES predicts that there will be a biodiversity net gain of 45% in habitat areas and a 39% net gain in hedgerow habitats, as a result of the proposed development.
Pauric McCloskey, Development Project Manager at RES, commented: "We're pleased to have worked with the local community in Horton Kirby and Fawkham to listen to their feedback, reflect on the changes we could make and then incorporate these into the plans that we have now submitted.
"Building new solar farms like Chimmens is absolutely essential to helping tackle climate change, but more than that, we need more projects like this because they generate cheap electricity, create a more secure supply of energy for Britian and support skilled jobs in the green economy."
If consented, Chimmens Solar Farm would be capable of generating enough clean, green renewable electricity to power approximately 22,500 homes each year, saving up to 15,0002 tonnes of CO2 compared to electricity from fossil fuels like gas. Large-scale solar, alongside onshore and offshore wind are now the cheapest forms of new electricity generation, making developments like the proposed Chimmens Solar Farm not just good for the environment but also the consumer.
RES is active in onshore and offshore wind, solar, energy storage, green hydrogen, transmission and distribution. In its 40-year history, RES has delivered more than 23GW of renewable energy projects and exported the skills and knowledge it has developed as a British business across the globe.
For further information about the project, visit www.chimmens-solarfarm.co.uk
