Cressing solar farm

EDF Renewables UK is bringing forward proposals for Cressing Solar Farm, a new solar farm on two areas of land south of Braintree between Tye Green and Black Notley, and north of Cressing, connecting to the national electricity grid at the nearby Braintree Substation.

The solar farm that we are looking at is divided into two sites: Cressing East and Cressing West. As the two sites are closely related and would share a grid connection and operator, we’re treating them as a single scheme and are consulting with you on both at the same time. Through our initial engagement with Braintree District Council, we have been advised to submit two planning applications for this solar farm, one for each site.

The Cressing Solar Farm would have a generating capacity of up to 49.9MW of electricity. This is enough to meet the needs of 9,500 homes every year and save approximately 21,500 tonnes of carbon in emissions.

We also expect to put in place a community fund worth around £20,000 over the lifetime of the scheme, as well as improving biodiversity and soil health.

We want your views on our proposals. This webpage introduces the Cressing Solar Farm and sets out how you can respond to a public consultation on our proposals.

Cressing Solar Farm would use photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity from the sun. These panels would be mounted on the ground in rows. They would be set at an angle of around 20 degrees, with a maximum height of 3 metres and gaps between the rows. The panels would be surrounded by a light perimeter fence with a field gate at the site entrance.

The solar farm would connect to the National Grid at the existing Braintree Substation. We would install an underground cable to connect the two sites to each other and to the Substation.

The Cressing Solar Farm site is located on several fields shown within the shaded area on the plan that you can download from this page.

Cressing West would be located to the south of the A120 and to the west of the B1018 between Black Notley and Tye Green. The majority of the site would be to the east of the railway line to the north of Cressing Railway Station. A smaller section of the site is to the west of the railway line close to the A120.

Cressing East is the smaller of the two sites and is located on land adjacent to Lanham Wood and either side of Lanham Farm Road, to the north of Cressing.

We want your views on our proposals and are consulting until Monday 31 October 2022.

You can find out more by:

• Viewing our consultation materials on this website.
• By attending one of our public exhibitions at the following dates and times:
  • The Notleys Golf Club, Witham Road, White Notley, Witham, Essex, CM8 1ST
    Thursday 6 October 2022, 3:30pm to 7:30pm
  • St Barnabas Church Hall, Claud Ince Avenue, Cressing CM77 8HJ
    Saturday 8 October 2022, 1:00pm to 5:00pm
• Contacting us on our freephone number 0800 169 6507 or by emailing us at Cressing.Solar@edf-re.uk

You can respond to our consultation by:

• Filling in our consultation questionnaire and posting it to FAO Cressing Solar Farm Consultation, Freepost SEC NEWGATE UK LOCAL
• Filling in our online questionnaire
• Emailing us your response to Cressing.Solar@edf-re.uk