Green Lane Solar Farm 

CONSULTATION WEBINAR

We held an online webinar on 12 March 2025 at 6.00 pm for more information, to meet the team and ask questions.

Download the presentation

Watch the webinar

SITE LOCATION

The proposed Green Lane solar farm is located in North Yorkshire, 2km west of Hessay and immediately south of the York-Knaresborough railway line. Please see site location map to the right. Click on the map to enlarge it.

KEY FACTS

• Installed capacity: 49.9 MWac

• Electricity generated equivalent to the consumption of approximately 16,300 average homes

• Approximately 15,000 tonnes CO2 saved each year

• Battery storage so energy can be used when it is most needed

• Bifacial, fixed solar panels to maximise energy generation

• Grid connection secured at Poppleton substation

• Access from Marston Lane

• Construction expected to take c.9 months

• Construction Traffic Management Plan will be implemented to minimise disruption

• Time-limited development – at the end of the project’s 40-year life all infrastructure will be removed and the land restored

• Maximum solar panel height of 2.6m to allow for sheep grazing underneath.

LAND USE, LANDSCAPE & NATURE

Please see site layout plan below

• Continued agricultural use with sheep grazing 

• Agricultural Land Classification survey shows that the site is all undifferentiated Grade 3

• An appropriate native grass and wildflower mix will be sown around the panels

• Existing hedgerows and topography provide effective screening

• New hedgerows and trees will be added for more screening and biodiversity

• Biodiversity Net Gain: Habitats - 65%; Hedgerows - 25%; Watercourses - 12%

• All public rights of way will be retained

• Total site area 211 acres / 86 hectares

• Panels cover 30% of the total site area, but less than 5% is disturbed by the actual footprint.

community benefits

Community Benefit Fund managed locally of £25,000 per year, index-linked, for the project lifetime.

• Separate Education Fund £3,000 a year, index-linked, to fund educational sessions and site visits to the solar farm with local schools. Read more.

• The project is expected to generate over £1 million in local benefits for the 40-year lifetime of the solar farm.

WHY SOLAR?

Solar is a cornerstone of the UK’s drive for energy security and lower energy bills. By harnessing a free and abundant local energy source, utility-scale solar farms reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels, mitigating the risks of global price volatility and supply chain disruptions particularly from hostile regimes.

Large-scale solar is now the cheapest form of new electricity generation in the UK, along with wind power.

Generating energy from fossil fuels is the biggest contributor to climate change, both globally and in the UK. The UK Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets out a target to fully decarbonise our energy supplies by 2030, and while we are making good progress - during 2024 over half of UK electricity generation was zero carbon - there is still much work to do.

WHY HERE?

• Eden Renewables has secured a local connection to the electricity grid

• The landscape is suitable for a solar farm as the topography and existing vegetation will help screen the project

• Avoids Green Belt

• There are no landscape designations or constraints such as National Landscape or Sites of Special Scientific Interest

• There are good levels of solar irradiation (sunlight) in this part of the country.

TECHNICAL REPORTS

We have been working on a number of detailed technical reports which will be submitted as part of the planning application. They include:

• EIA Environmental Statement informed by:

  • Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment

  • Full Ecological Assessment

  • Heritage Desk-Based Assessment

• Detailed Site Layout and Planting Plan

• Planning Design & Access Statement

• Construction Traffic Management Plan

• Agricultural Land Classification Report

• Access Arrangement Drawings

• Arboricultural Report

• Biodiversity Net Gain Strategy and Management Plan

• Flood Risk Assessment

• Glint & Glare Assessment

• Noise Assessment

• Outline Battery Safety Management Plan