Plans for solar farm on Rhondda grazing fields

Anthony Lewis Local Democracy Reporter

A solar farm with the potential to power nearly 2,700 homes could be coming to land in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The proposals for Dyffryn solar farm in Ynysmaerdy near Llantrisant from Windel Solar 8 Ltd are to construct a solar farm across a total area of approximately 28.4 hectares.

The proposed solar farm will have a generating capacity of up to 9.9 MegaWatts (MW) renewable electricity which is enough to power more than 2,678 homes per year and offset nearly 2,850 tonnes carbon dioxide every year.

The anticipated construction programme is expected to take eight to 10 months to complete and the proposal will have a lifespan of 40 years after which all equipment will be removed from the site and the land will continue to be used for agriculture and biodiversity.

Request

The site is located northeast of Llantrisant Forest on the east side of the A4119, 0.4km north of Ynysmaerdy and about 0.8km east of Coedely.

The applicant is requesting a scoping opinion from Rhondda Cynon Taf Council in relation to an environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Anthony Lewis Local Democracy Reporter

In making a request for a scoping opinion the scoping request report said it was accepted that an environmental statement will accompany any planning application submission.

It said the main purposes of the scoping report are to define the environmental statement which will accompany the planning application, anticipate and allow potentially adverse environmental impacts to be considered at an early stage, define methodologies to be used in the EIA process to assess the effects of the proposal and to engage relevant stakeholders at an early stage of the proposals to enable the contribution of relevant information.

Grazing fields

The scoping request report said the panels will be deployed to ensure the scale of the facility sits sympathetically in the local landscape

It said that there are no buildings on site and that the site is irregular in shape and encompasses several agricultural fields, used for grazing.

It added that whilst land beyond the north and western boundaries are rural in nature with fields, farmsteads and woodland, there is industrial development located adjacent to the south east of the site.

A small-scale solar farm (1.3MW) and wind turbine (60m in height to tip) is located adjacent to the eastern boundary of the proposal site.

The areas deemed to be potentially affected by the proposals include ecology, nature conservation, landscape and visual impact, noise and cumulative effects and will form a standalone chapter in the environmental statement.