Land at Stretchford Farm, Staverton, South Hams
BSR Energy (BSR) is bringing forward a proposal for a 20MW solar development, which would power the equivalent of 6,000 homes and provide a reduction of 5,278 tonnes of C02 each year, along with 100MW of battery storage, on Land at Stretchford Farm. The proposal represents an important opportunity to boost green energy production in the local area.
Why is this needed?
We are in the midst of a climate emergency. The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change outlines that immediate action must be taken to avoid irreparable climate breakdown. Solar and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) developments, such as the one proposed on Land at Stretchford Farm, are an important part of the solution.
South Hams District Council has declared a Climate Change and Biodiversity Emergency. Within their Climate Change and Biodiversity Strategy, the Council has committed to working: ‘with partners through the Devon Climate Emergency Response Group to aim to reduce the District of South Hams carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 at the latest; and a 10% Biodiversity Net Gain in the habitat value of its green and wooded public open space by 2025’.
BSR is dedicated to being part of the solution and the change towards renewable energy sources in the UK. The impacts of climate change are already evident, with extreme weather events such as record-breaking temperatures, droughts, and unusually heavy rainfall becoming increasingly common. The time to act and mitigate further damage to our planet is now.
Solar energy is an affordable and efficient form of green energy which is an important part of ensuring the energy independence of the United Kingdom and working towards meeting the UK’s target of net-zero by 2050.
Meanwhile, National Grid forecast that up to 31GW of total storage could be needed by 2030, increasing to 72GW by 2050. The UK has just over 7GW of storage currently operational or under construction, demonstrating a clear requirement for the acceleration of battery storage development across the UK. (Figures from National Grid’s Future Energy Scenarios Report, July 2023).
Why here?
BSR often gets asked regarding its developments ‘why here?’. The key driver for looking for a suitable location to host a development of this nature is the National Grid.
Firstly, there is a need to identify a part of the Grid that has capacity, and then a suitable point of connection to export any generation needs to be identified. Once BSR has identified a suitable grid connection, landowners who have a suitable amount of land for the development are then contacted to gauge interest. Once interested landowners have been identified site visits are undertaken to view the land and discuss the proposal further. BSR also considers Land Grade, Landscape impact, Heritage, Flood Zones, Noise, Transport, and Ecology as part of the site selection process. A full Site Selection report which details why Land at Stretchford Farm has been chosen will be submitted as part of the Planning Application.
Whilst the current connection date for this site is 2036, National Grid is currently exploring options to increase grid capacity, as this is desperately needed if the country is to meet key Net Zero targets. As such, should planning permission be granted, BSR hopes to be provided with an updated connection date that is much sooner than 2036, hence why it is coming forward with the proposals now.
Get involved
We value the input of the local community and are eager to understand the community’s feedback at an early stage. Further information on how you can get involved in our consultation, or get in touch with the project team, can be found here.
