Council unveils £3.75million plan to create new Chesterfield solar farm

Derbyshire County Council has outlined plans in its budget for the next financial year for the new solar farms to be built on land it owns.

Budget papers detail that the council aims to spend £3.75 million on the first solar farm, a site between Williamthorpe Nature Reserve and the A617 near Temple Normanton, in Chesterfield. Details for the layout of the scheme, the amount of energy it would generate and how many homes it could power are not yet available.

The Williamthorpe site – a former reclaimed colliery – is the only plot out of the potential 15 sites which has an historic planning approval dating back to spiked council plans in 2015.

Three other sites are said to have been marked as “priorities” for development, but for the remaining 11 there are issues in securing a grid connection to make them viable – which could prove much more costly.

Council papers say the authority plans to submit a planning application for the Williamthorpe site later this year, with an aim to have it approved by December, a development company procured from January to August 2024 and the project built by April 2025.

They detail that the current budget for the solar farm is based on quotes for the grid connection and other estimated figures from the Association for Public Service Excellence.

Budget papers say: “The council is committed to achieving net zero for the corporate estate by 2032 or sooner and meeting its carbon zero target by 2050.

“The development of a solar farm will provide renewable energy, which will offset residual energy use elsewhere. These projects will move the estate closer to becoming carbon zero, reducing running costs and providing revenue savings.”

The county council had been moving forward with plans to build five solar farms, including one at Williamthorpe, in 2015. This had been to bring more income into the council, make better use of underutilised council land and lower the authority’s impact on the environment. The plans received public support but ultimately stalled and did not progress.