Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Opinion

JASON REED: Is this really the right way to deploy solar panels in Britain?

The conversion of vast areas of farmland in the United Kingdom into so-called “solar farms” is becoming an increasingly popular proposal for new planning applications. In essence, acres and acres upon acres of prime farmland will soon be covered in solar panels, if current trends continue with local authorities, which can ordinarily be expected to harshly assess planning applications, continue to wave through solar farms.

There may be an uneven distribution of requests for solar farm planning in different regions across the country, but this trend is ubiquitous in the UK. Since the beginning of 2020, solar farm applications have been submitted for at least 28 separate sites in Hampshire, a particularly hard-hit county, spanning a total area of more than 3,500 acres.

Enso Energy plans to one of the biggest solar farms in Hampshire, and indeed the country. It recently secured approval from the local authority, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, to build its enormous solar farm a stone’s throw from one of the best preserved and most valuable areas of Roman heritage in Britain. The council appears not to have considered the history of the area at all when weighing up whether to wave through Enso Energy’s planning application.

A judicial review is clearly necessary in this case, to fairly weigh up the pros and cons of the project ad avoid setting a worrying precedent for similar future planning applications. Already, the sheer number of solar farms, many of them large, that appear to be in the works throughout the country makes it unlikely that it would keep that record for long. The United Kingdom will soon seem like a single massive solar panel from outer space.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Renewable energy sources have potential as a long-term solution, but they are currently not economically viable. Not enough progress has been made in technology. Even if it were technically feasible, the cost of converting our system to renewable energy sources would be prohibitive at the present time. Too many of our politicians are blinded by the far-off net-zero dream, meaning they are happy to see things happen they would never otherwise tolerate, in pursuit of that forlorn dream.

The last thing we need is to shift to ever more expensive means of producing and storing power when our energy costs are already rising at an alarming and painful rate. Let’s put the technology to work in the background to see what it can come up with, whether the means to efficiently harvest and distribute power using renewable sources like solar does materialise, and then revisit it when it’s scalable and ready to be used. Approving huge solar farms and then hoping the technology comes through later is entirely the wrong way to go about it.

Nevertheless, it should be abundantly clear that we can’t just turn off the tap on fossil fuels tomorrow, no matter how much many might like to. Natural gas and other energy sources are not the only options. We are instead presented with a choice between gas from Russia and fracked gas from Britain. Governments will face increasing pressure to allow fracking. It makes perfect sense.

The use of nuclear energy is an important component of the solution to the world’s energy crisis. In a way, the long-awaited approval of the Rolls-Royce small nuclear reactor is a step in the right direction. In order to wean ourselves off of Russia’s energy supply and eventually completely abandon fossil fuels, nuclear power is absolutely indispensable.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

If we want Putin to take our economic penalties and decoupling from Russian exports seriously and not as a temporary measure, we need to be honest with ourselves about our long-term energy requirements.

No one, not even the most optimistic solar power promoters, can seriously claim that this is the long-term answer to the problem of keeping our houses warm. Let’s stop sacrificing valuable farmland (and Roman history, in the Bramley and Silchester case) for a hopeless mirage.

DON’T MISS…

Big Brother

BIG Brother bosses have revealed that they have cast housemates for the upcoming ITV2 reboot who want to take part in the iconic reality...

CELEBITE

ELON Musk and Andrew Tate are backing Russell Brand amid his sex scandal as 61% of Politicalite readers say their opinion on the comedian...

MUSIC

TROYE Sivan, the South African-born Australian singer, songwriter, and actor, has made waves in the UK music industry with his smash-hit single Rush –...

Entertainment

RUSSELL Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse by four women.  The 48-year-old comic, who is expecting his third child...

CELEBITE

BOBBY Brazier has split from his girlfriend Liberty Love as the couple become another tale of the curse of Strictly Come Dancing, Politicalite can...

CELEBITE

KEVIN Costner and Christine Baumgartner have agreed the terms to settle their divorce. The ‘Yellowstone’ actor has been locked in a bitter dispute with...

Entertainment

ALAN Fletcher has revealed that he felt “quite nervous” about the return of ‘Neighbours’ on Amazon’s freevee as the show returned to UK television...

Entertainment

FRESH off his headline Wembley Stadium performance at Capital’s 2023 Summertime Ball, British rapper ArrDee has made his feature film acting debut in the...

Royals

MIKE Tindall believes men find it particularly “hard” to open up about the “challenges” they face and is encouraging guys to speak out more...

Latest

A MONTHS-WORTH of rain could fall across parts of the UK by the end of Monday after the South-West was hit by flash floods...

Weather

HURRICANE Lee will bring “heavy and persistent” showers to western areas of the UK on Tuesday after storms brought heavy rains, thunder and lightning...

CELEBITE

RUSSELL Brand issued a furious denial of accusations of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse levelled at him by four women in a video...

CELEBITE

BRITNEY Spears has hit out at the “enemy right in front” of her in a cryptic Instagram post following a brief break from the...

Latest

CBD oils, “top-of-the-range” marijuana, THC-infused drinks… We take a look at the cannabis brands launched by celebrities. After wine (Sarah Jessica Parker, Brad Pitt...

MUSIC

QUEEN of pop Kylie Minogue has dropped her critically acclaimed 16th studio album, ‘Tension’. The Western pop icon from Australia, 55, has followed up...

Entertainment

A MAN who was jailed following a sting by an undercover News of the World journalist has claimed that he was drugged by the...

HOMES

The future of the construction industry definitely belongs to modular homes. In recent years, modular homes have become widely recognised and popular for many...

Entertainment

ONE of the most recognisable voices in top flight football, commentator Guy Mowbray will be calling all the thrilling action on Gladiators, the most...

CELEBITE

MIRIAM Margolyes has revealed she is living with spinal stenosis, osteoporosis, asthma and a leaky bladder. The ‘Call The Midwife’ and This Morning agony...

Exclusive

SIR MICK Jagger still misses late Rolling Stones bandmate Charlie Watts as the legendary rockers released their new single “Angry” – to a new...

Advertisement