Planning permission is currently being sought by Stow-based company FreeWatt for a 10,100m² solar panel ‘field’ project to be situated near Stow, Sturton-by-Stow and Willingham-by-Stow in Lincolnshire.
Planning permission has been submitted to West Lindsey District Council for a 10,100m² ‘field’ of photovoltaic cells, estimated to cost £8.5 million by completion and which contains 14,544 solar panels, potentially delivering enough energy to power all of the surrounding villages. Permission has been sought by Stow-based company, FreeWatt, Lincolnshire’s leading photovoltaic specialists. With current Government cuts to subsidies for large solar panel projects such as this one, FreeWatt’s scheme could be the last – but the largest – project of its kind. Estimates suggest that the project could be up and running as soon as July this year.
The land that would house the proposed scheme has been owned by Julian Patrick, FreeWatt’s MD, since 1946, and Mr Patrick is himself one of the main investors in the project. Concerns over the scheme’s appearance have been considered, and the panels themselves would stand only 1.6m off the ground, with five substations connecting them to an existing grid on the site’s boundary. As the panels do not have to be concreted in, the disruption to the land would be minimal and the existing grass would stay, leading to the novel proposal that sheep could graze quite happily around the panels. Hedges could also be used to lessen the impact the proposal has on views.
PCC Construction Services have previously worked in partnership with FreeWatt on a project that proposes to install solar panels onto fire stations in the local area, and wish them luck with seeking planning permission.
