High Barns
Solar Farm
Providing Clean, Green Energy for Hartlepool
Enviromena has submitted a planning application to Hartlepool Borough Council for a 49.9MW solar farm and a 25MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) located on land at High Barns Farm, TS27 3HE.
The application has been validated and has been given the following reference code: H/2024/0180.
The solar farm will create enough clean, renewable energy to power approximately 25,915 homes per annum. The carbon offsetting of this solar farm is approximately 14,500 tonnes of CO2 per annum, which is the equivalent of taking 8,620 cars off the road each year.
Where is the proposed site?
Benefits of High Barns
The solar farm will assist Hartlepool Borough Council in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with national and local targets in response to the Climate Emergency.
The project will deliver net beneficial gains for biodiversity. Solar farm installations have a small footprint on the land they occupy, leaving considerable scope for biodiversity enhancements. Research has shown that responsibly managed solar farms can play an important role in reducing the decline in biodiversity.
Existing trees and hedgerows will be retained and protected and supplemented by additional native species planting to support local habitats as part of a wider ecological network.
The development of green projects like High Barns Solar Farm also create business opportunities and economic activity which contribute to the country’s green recovery.
We are committed to using local suppliers and contractors during construction and long-term operation of the project, which will benefit the local economy, and provide jobs to people in the local area.
The proposal does not require the stopping or diversion of any public rights of way.
This is a temporary development, allowing the land to rest for the period of operation up to 40 years. Decommissioning and full restoration of the site at the end of life of the development will be secured via planning condition.
Enviromena is seeking to engage with the local community to support projects in the local area.
The project does not require Government subsidies.
About Us
Enviromena, the developer of this project, is a clean energy solutions company providing safe, affordable, and reliable solutions for growing sustainable power demands. Headquartered in the UK, Enviromena has more than 16 years’ global experience in developing, designing, constructing, managing, and operating ground-breaking renewable energy projects.
Enviromena have installed over 17,000 power systems globally and currently manages, operates, and maintains over 250 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy assets including solar and energy storage projects. Additionally, Enviromena currently has a further 2.3GW in construction and development across the UK and Italy.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
The Climate Emergency, the cost of living crisis and the energy crunch are all linked by how we generate, use and supply energy. We urgently need to generate energy from new, low cost, low carbon sources and solar is the lowest cost and quickest to deploy of all energy sources. It is currently one-ninth the cost of gas and less than one third of the cost of nuclear.
Solar is already making a difference, for example between June and August in 2023, solar often provided up to 25% of UK daytime electricity (National Grid ESO carbon app). The Government’s new strategy Powering Up Britain – Delivering Energy Security and Net Zero (March 2023) has set a target for a fivefold increase in solar by 2035, up to 70GW, enough to power around 20 million homes. This can only be achieved by deploying solar on both land and buildings.
Battery storage technologies are crucial in helping to integrate renewable energy generation, such as solar power, into the existing grid network.
-
The solar farm is a temporary development and will not change the land classification. Once the solar farm is no longer in operation it will be decommissioned and the land will return to its previous agricultural usage.
-
The UK Food Security Report (2021) found that “the biggest medium to long term risk to the UK’s domestic production comes from climate change and other environmental pressures like soil degradation, water quality and biodiversity”. Solar farms currently account for 0.08% of total land use in the UK (Solar Energy UK 2022). The Government targets for a fivefold increase in solar would result in 0.3% of the UK land area being used by solar (Carbon Brief, 2022). This is the equivalent to around half of the space used by golf courses.
-
The site for High Barns Solar Farm has been carefully selected as part of a detailed site assessment process. Considerations have been made on all the following, to ensure this site is the most appropriate one for our scheme: grid capacity, land availability, heritage assets, flood risk and agricultural land quality.
-
Solar panels have no moving parts and emit no sound. Inverters and transformers can emit very low- level sound, but these are sited away from houses and cannot be heard from more than a few metres away.
Battery Energy Storage Systems generate some low-level noise from the electrical infrastructure onsite, although usually only audible from within a short distance. A full noise assessment will be carried out as part of the planning application. If necessary, the assessment will recommend mitigation measures to reduce noise levels.
-
There is no evidence that solar farms have a negative impact on wildlife. In fact, wildlife thrives within the sites when managed sensitively.
We are committed to significant net biodiversity gain at High Barns Farm through the creation of new habitats to support local wildlife. Existing hedgerows will be strengthened and new hedgerows will be planted to improve habitat connectivity across the site. We will set aside a significant proportion of the land for habitats to support mammals, birds and invertebrates.
Further ecological enhancement measures such as bird boxes and bat boxes will be placed within the site to encourage those populations to prosper.
Public Consultation Event
We held a public consultation event on 11 March 2024 (2pm - 7pm) at Elwick W.I Hall, The Green, Elwick, Hartlepool, TS27 3EF.
We’d like to thank local residents for attending. The boards that were presented at the event can be found here.
Contact Us
If you wish to contact us or require further information, please feel free to use the form (situated to the left) or by the following methods:
feedback@alpacacommunications.com
Freepost: ALPACA COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED