Waveney District Council

Solar Power Generation6th March 2012

Introducing Lark Energy

• Based in South Lincolnshire

• Energy company focussing on solar PV and anaerobic digestion

• Privately owned – part of the regional housebuilder ‘Larkfleet’

• Fast growing business creating new jobs

The Need for Renewables• Fuel prices/ scarcity and climate change are key drivers

of national and international policy

• Waveney District has shown commitment to renewables – and understands the benefits - seeing employment growth from offshore wind

• Waveney also has one of the largest roof mounted PV systems in the UK at Ellough

• A buoyant economy and vibrant rural communities in the future will depend on the ability to generate power locally

• Renewables work best when a range of technologies are deployed across an area

United Kingdom

Germany

Is Solar an effective solution in the UK?

Global uptake of solar PV has increased 12 fold in the last seven years.

Largest installed capacity is in Germany

UK has installed around 1GW in 12 months – much faster to scale up than other technologies

New funding for large scale on 2 ROCs is equivalent to offshore wind

UK Solar Industry

April 2010 to March 2012

Rapid growth of the industry following introduction of Feed in Tariff

60% reduction in global prices for solar panels between 2008 and 2011

Sudden and dramatic cuts in the Feed in Tariff

April 2012 Onwards

Global prices will stabilise

Consolidation of UK installers

Change from Feed in Tariff to ROC as major funding source

Viable without subsidy from around 2014

What is Large Scale Solar?

Last year 5MW was considered large scale in the UK – that is the equivalent of 2 or 3 onshore turbines and requires 30 acres of land

Globally the largest solar plant is 200MW in China. Europe’s largest is around 85MW in Germany

Next step for the UK is 20 – 30 MW

Visual Impact

What Makes a Good Site?• Grid Connection – Good electrical infrastructure and

proximity of users

• Planning considerations – conservation areas, areas of landscape value etc

• A community that understands the issues

• Land availability – price and ownership

• Land quality – current use and productive value

• Infrastructure for construction

How is it built?

What else is needed, apart from the panels?

Is this a loss of productive land?

- Depends firstly on current use of the site

- Agricultural land varies in its use and productivity

- Land used for energy crops – this is 10x more efficient than oil seed rape

- Land maintains its agricultural designation and can be returned to arable or grazing at the end of the development

- A 30MW plant would provide energy for over 7000 homes

Sites in use…..Maintenance is relatively light with an annual inspection and replacement of defective parts

Land is either grazed or mown for hay

No noise, no emissions, no pollution

Improvements in bio-diversity

Next Steps

-Public consultation

- Screening opinion and discussions with planning officers

-Site specific reports eg ecology, flood risk, visual impact

-Scheme design

-Submission of planning application

Thank You&

Your Questions