East of England has noted a rise in solar farm applications. In fact, the number has doubled in recent months as more and more farmers are replacing growing food crops with crops for solar energy.
Thanks to this, new solar projects there have risen to 840 megawatts or enough to supply 400,000 households with clean energy.
Most of these new solar fields are to be built on dormant agricultural land. According to Doctor Nina Skorupska, the Chief Executive of the Association for Renewable Energy, it’s pivotal to keep up this momentum and help meet UK’s climate goals and stimulate the necessary new investments in the region.
Why Is the East of England Noticing this Rise in Renewable Energy Use?
The east of the country has noticed a rise in renewable energy mostly because of its flat terrain and plenty of days of sunlight. But the real boom happened when the UK Power Networks decided to fund the upfront costs needed of connecting new solar farms with the local energy grid.
Solar farm developers can therefore connect to the grid cheaper and quicker and Power Networks have the permission to lower their electricity output at times when the demand is low.
Moreover, UK Power Networks stated that the number of applications to connect batteries has risen in comparison to last year. In fact, nine new battery applications were accepted between the period of January and May this year.
The power rating was 385MW, up from only three projects that totaled 27.5MW in the same months last year.
Could this make other parts of England havens for solar power energy remains to be seen!
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