Proposals for a new solar farm across farmland south of the M20 and northeast of Aldington will be the subject of a second public consultation from Tuesday 26 October to Monday 29 November 2021.
The proposed East Stour Solar Farm is being brought forward by EDF Renewables UK. It has the potential to generate up to 49.9MW of renewable electricity, enough to meet the equivalent needs of approximately 17,000 homes in the Borough of Ashford every year*.
This second public consultation follows on from an initial public consultation held during the summer of this year. EDF Renewables UK now wants to hear people’s views on its updated design proposals ahead of submitting a planning application to Ashford Borough Council.
Local residents can find out more by attending a public exhibition event to be held on the following dates:
- Tuesday 2nd November, 3:30pm to 7:30pm: Aldington Village Hall, The Corner, Roman Road, Aldington, Ashford TN25 7EE
- Wednesday 3rd November, 2:30pm to 6:30pm: Brabourne and Smeeth Village Hall, Bircholt Forstal, Lees Road, Brabourne, Ashford TN25 5LF
There is also a virtual exhibition that can be viewed online at www.edf-re.uk/renewables/east-stour and people can contact the project team directly by calling Freephone 0800 0194 576 or by emailing east.stour@edf-re.uk.
EDF Renewables UK’s battery storage team, Pivot Power, is bringing forward proposals for a battery energy storage system on land between the proposed East Stour Solar Farm and Sellindge substation. Details of this will form a separate planning application.
James Lyons from EDF Renewables UK said: “We are now consulting on our detailed design proposals for East Stour Solar Farm.
“We are grateful to everyone that took the time to provide feedback during our initial consultation earlier this year. The proposals that we are now presenting have been
shaped by this feedback and the results of the site assessments that we have carried out.”
“We are excited to be presenting our plans both in-person and online. We encourage anyone interested in our proposals to attend one of our events and to share their feedback with us.”
“Once the consultation ends, we anticipate submitting a planning application by the end of this year.”
Further information about the project is available at East Stour.
Notes to editors
*Based on European Commission, Photovoltaic GIS (PVGIS-SARAH) initial site production estimate and average domestic electricity consumption per Ashford Borough Council household (DBEIS, 2020). Numbers presented to three significant figures.
About EDF Renewables UK and Ireland
EDF Renewables UK and Ireland is a joint venture between two companies, EDF Energy (EDF’s UK business) and EDF Renewables Group (EDF’s global renewables business). EDF Renewables Group has more than 25 years’ worth of experience in delivering renewable energy projects in more than 20 countries around the world. EDF Renewables UK and Ireland has an operating portfolio of 37 wind farms and we are providing some of the much needed new affordable, low carbon electricity across all technologies. We have an expanding renewables portfolio with almost 5GW of projects in planning and development across wind, battery and solar and we have 600 MW currently under construction. We also have offices in Edinburgh, Rainton Bridge (near Durham), London and Dublin.
Pivot Power is part of EDF Renewables and is developing large-scale battery storage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure at 40 sites across the UK. This network will create up to 2GW of flexible capacity, which is essential to future-proof our electricity system and provide the power for mass-scale, rapid electric vehicle charging.
