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Three developments already have approval – Welbeck Colliery in Mansfield, Gelding in Labley and a third in Bilsthorpe – with a fourth at Askern in South Yorkshire awaiting planning consent.
The installation at Welbeck Colliery, the first to come online, will cover almost 32 acres at the brownfield site, comprising more than 44,000 individual panels. Work is expected to start on the remaining sites later this year.
Each ground-mounted installation will be operational for 25 years and together will generate enough energy to power around 10,000 homes while saving up to 15 tonnes of carbon per year.
Adrian Pike, ceo of delivery partner Anesco said of the scheme: “Working with landowners to develop sites likes these former collieries fits perfectly with government policy, with the Department of Energy and Climate Change pushing the focus of growth in solar to be on brownfield sites and domestic and industrial roofs.
“Through these installations we will not only be regenerating disused land but will be creating employment, generating renewable energy and helping to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions.”
The announcement follows news earlier this month that, in a first for Wales, Caerphilly County Borough Council has opened a commercial-scale wind farm on a former colliery site.
edie staff
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