Energy Generation - PV
Rooftop PV
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Wiltshire and Swindon councils have teamed up with a global leader in organising solar bulk buys with reputable installers to offer homeowners, SMEs and 'commonhold associations' a no-obligation quote for rooftop solar.
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Economies of scale will lead to cheaper prices, and with fossil fueled electricity having doubled in price and no signs of stabilising any time soon the financial benefits have never been more convincing.
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The scheme is flexible, and once the supplier is introduced you agree the details directly with the installer, including storage options etc.
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Register Your Interest Here. It's quick and simple and the more people are onboard the better value the scheme will be, so please share it with your friends and neighbours!
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Click for more details from Wilts Council and Swindon Council.
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Zero Chippenham also has a good local scheme in the Chippenham area.
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CSE (Centre for Sustainable Energy) has lots of good information: see for example:
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https://www.cse.org.uk/advice/renewable-energy/solar-pv
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Solar Farms
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Wiltshire is quite a sunny place on average so plots of land of low agricultural quality near grid connection points are quite optimum places for solar farms.
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Whilst rooftop solar is more efficient in terms of land usage, it is less efficient in terms of material use and much more labour intensive, time consuming and expensive to install, and the opportunities are limited. Rapidly achieving the scale of renewable energy we need requires solar farms to complement rooftop solar. ​
WCA leaflet on solar farms (pdf)
References:
Two years to save the world UNFCC
DEFRA UK Food Security Report (2021)
Solar Habitat 2024 - Ecological trends on Solar Farms in the UK
Friends of the Earth: How England can produce more renewable energy fast.
Analysis: UK renewables still cheaper than gas
National Grid Future Energy Scenarios
SEUK: The Facts about Solar Energy
openinframap.org shows existing grid infrastructure and generation in Wiltshire.
Lime Down Solar Park is a new utility-scale solar and battery energy storage facility proposed to be built near the major national grid interchange in North Wiltshire.
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Some large scale solar farms in sunny places within reach of grid connections are urgently needed across the country to help reduce the damage being done by burning fossil fuels.
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WCA is setting out the case for wind and solar farms in general and addressing some of the myths surrounding this proposal.
This Leaflet has been produced to clarify some of the facts around solar farms.
There is a second consultation on the project running until 19th March 2025. These suggestions have been prepared to help if you want to respond positively.
You can also visit one of the in-person events listed on the consultation page.
Solar farm planning applications in Wiltshire ​
There are several planning applications for solar farms in Wiltshire, which will make a major contribution to helping achieve Wiltshire’s net zero carbon targets. The sites will also result in significant biodiversity net gain, which is also critical to local environmental goals.
We would like to encourage our members to respond to Wiltshire Council Planning in support of these applications. This is a very simple online process.
Some people may have reservations about solar farms, so you may like to consider the following points:
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The UK needs significantly more renewable energy generation if we are to meet our carbon reduction targets.
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Rooftop solar makes a useful contribution but is more expensive and will never be sufficient to meet our needs.
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Solar farms, along with onshore wind, are the lowest cost form of electricity generation, and are not subsidised. Fossil fuel generation and nuclear are much more expensive, even with the extensive subsidies they enjoy (source: BEIS).
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National planning rules mean that onshore wind is effectively banned, so if Wiltshire is to generate significant renewable energy in the next few years it can only come from solar farms. Wiltshire is not particularly windy anyway, but does get a good amount of sunshine.
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To achieve the UK’s 2035 target of 70 GigaWatts of solar would use less than 0.5% of farmland. Solar farms deliver gains in biodiversity and carbon sequestration by leaving the land under the panels fallow and allowing wildlife to flourish undisturbed.
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Friends of The Earth has produced a useful and very detailed guide on supporting renewable energy planning applications. If you have little time you can just submit a brief comment and select "support" from the menu. Ideally the comment should mention material planning considerations and policies, such as:
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The applications conform to the National Planning Policy Framework and National Policy Statement for Energy Infrastructure
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They make a significant contribution to tackling the Climate Emergency acknowledged by Wiltshire Council .
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Wiltshire currently generates only 6% of its energy demand from renewables (Wiltshire Council Climate Strategy 2022)
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Current applications:
Swallett Energy Park website - in planning
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Recent applications:
Red Barn website - approved 23rd January 2025 - thank you!
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Forest Gate website - this application was approved on 9 March 2023 - thank you!
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Leigh Delamare website - this application was approved on 9 March 2023 - thank you!
Minety website - this application was approved on 22 April 2022 - thank you!
The applicant JBM Solar was acquired by RWE and the project appears on their portfolio map