LET THE SUN SHINE IN! PLAN REVEALED FOR SOLAR PARK IN VILLAGE NEAR GRIMSBY

                                                                        

How the array of panels might look - photo from Aura Power website

WINDPOWER is the only game in town - or is it?

Over the past decade, most of the headlines have been captured by companies using Grimsby as a base for their North Sea windfarm operations.

But now there is a newcomer on the block - one whose focus is not on wind energy but on solar.

Bristol-based Aura Power has earmarked a field at Aylesby for its proposed Grimsby Solar Park covering up to 120 acres.

Since it was set up in 2013, the company has garnered plenty  of experience - not just in the UK (where it has a huge development at Carlam Hill on the outskirts of Hull) but also in Canada, Italy, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland and Spain.

It says: "Large scale solar is one of the most cost-effective forms of renewable energy and an increasingly important part of the world’s energy mix. 

"In many countries it is competitive with fossil fuels, even without assistance from subsidies." 

Aura's agents for the Aylesby project are the Suffolk-based consultants, Engena Ltd, who say  the proposed array of ground-mounted solar photovoltaic panels will occupy a maximum area of 120 acres (50 ha).

 It is proposed that the rows of solar panels will run in a north/south orientation in order for the panels to tilt and track the sun as it moves from east to west each day.

Space between frames is provided for maintenance access and to avoid shading from neighbouring panels.

If approved, the entrance for Pyewipe Farm off Aylesby Road will be used for access.

Existing farm tracks and field entrances will be utilised and upgraded where necessary to allow access to individual segments of the solar array.

Where sections of new, upgraded or widened access track are required, this will have the appearance of typical vernacular farm tracks with a crushed stone running surface, grassed over in time.

Says Engena: "To inform a future planning application, it is proposed that detailed reports on environmental and technical impacts (including landscape, heritage, hydrology and ecology) will accompany the planning application.

"These assessments follow nationally accepted and tested guidelines and ensure that a thorough, robust planning application is presented to North East Lincolnshire Council."

The Grimsby News says: Solar parks don't look too pretty but they can be attractively screened with native trees and shrubs to the benefit both of their surroundings and of wildlife. What is more, they don't pose the collision menace  to migrating birds of wind turbines. And what was it that Sir David Attenborough said back in 2015? "If we could harness one 5,000th part of the energy that the sun sprays on the earth every 24 hours, we could provide all the energy requirements of the entire human race." With an endorsement like that, what's not to like about the Aylesby proposal?