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Green Hill Solar will be one of the largest solar power installations in the UK. The developers have approached significant landowners within approximately 20 km of Grendon substation. It is understood eleven landowners have currently committed.
The solar installations will cover Best and Most Versatile (BMV) grades 1-3b agricultural land, important to Britain’s food security.
An estimated 2 million square metres of dark, glinting solar panels standing metres tall will stand or rotate to follow the sun.
The installations will host equipment storage buildings, battery energy storage systems (BESS), with noisy inverters and fans. The sites will be surrounded by high security mesh fencing, security cameras and lighting with access routes and tracks.
Construction is expected to last at least two years, including HGV traffic and large construction plant accessing the sites, followed by on-going cleaning and maintenance works to the solar panel-covered fields.
Cabling from all the solar site locations will be dug underground to the Grendon and possibly other substations, along routes to be decided. Compulsory land purchase is possible.
The environmental and ecological impact on the landscape will be dramatic: rural vistas will be destroyed. It will affect wildlife, birds and waterways. Footpaths, bridleways and the countryside will be forever changed. Views from woodlands, around historic and listed buildings, scenic routes in and out of communities will be impacted. Household views may change and house prices affected: the decision-makers don’t take this into account!
At the end of its ‘temporary’ 60 years, lands will be ‘returned to their former state’. If this happens, the solar constructions and ancillary equipment will need to be removed and disposed of/recycled, although cabling will remain in place. If the now-brownfield sites aren’t developed for other purposes, landowners will presumably be required to start farming again; nature will have to reorganise itself once more. Importantly, secured funds must be in place to pay for the reinstatement of lands for future generations.
You can follow the progress of the Green Hill Solar NSIP here, and register for government updates that will be sent once the DCO is submitted in early 2025. In the meantime to stay updated, we recommend you regularly visit the Planning Inspectorate NSIP Green Hill Solar site as documents are regularly uploaded.
You can read the Green Hill Solar Planning Inspectorate’s meeting notes from February 2024 here.
You can read the Green Hill Solar Planning Inspectorate’s meeting notes from May 2024 here.
You can read the Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Report here, to which Parish Councils and local government have responded.
Who is behind the development?
Green Hill Solar is proposed by Island Green Power UK Ltd. (IGP), which has developed and sold off other solar installations in the UK. Macquarie group, one of the largest asset management companies in the world, has a 50% stake-holding in IGP.
Further information on IGP, and Macquarie Group and associations with UK businesses such as water companies, is easily found on the internet.
More about Island Green Power.
The Green Hill Solar NSIP proposals.