Plans submitted for solar farm covering 38 fields of farmland
Anthony Lewis, local democracy reporter
Plans have been submitted for a solar farm covering 38 fields of farmland, which could power around 12,000 homes.
The application from Renantis UK Ltd (recently rebranded as Nadara) covers land at Bryntail Farm in Bryn Tail Road, Pontypridd.
It has has been submitted to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) and if approved would have a combined capacity of up to 39.9MWp (megawatt peak) sufficient to generate approximately 43,000MWh (megawatt hours) which the application says means it could power around 12,000 homes.
The application covers 38 agricultural fields measuring around 70.9 hectares that are currently in use for livestock farming with 1,333 module racks of solar panels proposed.
Biodiversity improvement
The planning statement submitted with the application said that approximately 2.15% of the site is for development and the remaining 97.75% is for landscape enhancement and biodiversity improvement so the area of land used for the solar development would be much smaller than the overall site area.
It would generate and export energy to the grid for up to 35 years after which the development would be decommissioned with all infrastructure removed and the site restored to an agricultural use.
The design and access statement says that it would reduction of around 18,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide missions annually which adds up to 630,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide displaced over the 35-year lifespan of the project.
Community funds
The proposed development would also provide funding of up to £581,000 over the life of the project for distribution to the Pontypridd community and onward investment into local projects, groups, and initiatives, the application says.
The site lies north of Rhydyfelin, northeast of Glyntaff, and east of Pontypridd town centre.
The plans also include a substation compound, transformer stations, internal access track, landscaping, biodiversity measures, boundary fencing, security measures, CCTV posts, a monitoring house, storage containers access improvement, and ancillary infrastructure.
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Where the heck are humans meant to get their food from if these developers keep covering farmland with solar panels? There are so many businesses and homes that have empty roof tops. If these developers are so eager to place these solar panels into the ground, then there is plenty of land available in the Sahara desert.
Destruction of our beautiful countryside has begun. We all know how this will this will end because Labour’s policy on net zero no one get a say in any of this line of planning. Yes there is a consultation but the publics wishes and opinions will be ignored. No one in any political party ask the people of the UK on climate zero but they are spending millions of our taxes on these schemes. Our precious land will be destroyed because of someone ego trip