14 DAY TRIAL // A solar farm at Wymeswold Airfield in Leicestershire, United Kingdom is currently the largest facility of this kind up and running in said country. However, it appears that the Wymeswold Airfield solar farm will soon be “dethroned” by one that is slightly bigger.
Long story short, nine out of ten councilors on the Planning Development Control Committee at Winchester City Council have given the green light to plans to build a new solar farm in Hampshire.
This facility is to be erected between the town of Waterlooville and the town of Fareham, and will cover an area of roughly 200 acres. By comparison, the Wymeswold Airfield stretches over 150 acres.
“It is another step on the long road to sustainable energy resources in south Hampshire and we welcome it,” Ray Cobbett, Hampshire coordinator for Friends of the Earth, commented on this initiative, as cited by Daily Mail.
Once it is completed and goes online, the 200-acre solar farm on the United Kingdom's south coast is expected to generate enough power to meet the demand of 11,000 households in the country.
The move is expected to help reduce costs and environmental pollution associated with relying on dirty energy sources.
The only downside to this project is that the 200 acres that the farm is to be erected on are in an area suitable for agriculture. Hence, many disapprove of this project and argue that the area should not be used to harvest solar energy and instead be farmed by locals.
“I fear it will set a precedent because they are taking up so much of a farm. I feel you have to be very careful about setting a precedent for a lot of fields,” said Councilor Therese Evans, who voted against this project.
“Although I see the importance of renewable energy, I do still think it is important to retain agriculture as much as possible where it's viable,” the councilor went on to argue.