Caerphilly County Borough Council is proposing to develop the largest publicly owned solar farm in Wales.
This is the first time the council may invest into the energy sector and the council has submitted a Development of National Significant (DNS) application to the Welsh Government.
The 20MW solar farm would be at Cwm Ifor Farm in Penyrheol, Caerphilly, Wales, and would will provide an opportunity for the council to directly tackle carbon emissions by decarbonising electricity, as well as also providing the opportunity to generate an additional income to support local public services.
Cllr. Jamie Pritchard, the Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Climate Change, said: “In 2019 the council declared a climate emergency and has committed to being carbon neutral by 2030.
“The solar farm is a very exciting development and just one of a number of innovative initiatives planned by the Council to reduce carbon emissions.
“I’d like to thank everyone involved in the project and particularly members of the local community who took the time to take part in consultation.”
The council ran a consultation for the solar farm in winter 2022 to gain the views of nearby residents.
In related news, a project to develop Wales’ first floating wind fam was recently approved by the Welsh government.
Project Erebus is set to house seven next-generation 14MW (megawatt) turbines on floating platforms, providing enough low-carbon energy to power 93,000 homes.
It would be located 40km off the coast of Pembrokeshire.
Blue Gem Wind, the joint venture between TotalEnergies and Simply Blue Group, is currently on target to begin operating the 100MW Erebus project in 2026.
