Tag: solar power

Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham asks about limiting solar plants on agricultural land

The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham received the following written answer on 26th March 2024:

The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham asked His Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to limiting the size of solar plants in areas of best and most versatile agricultural land.

Lord Callanan (Con, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero): Planning policy and associated guidance set out that the effective use of land should be prioritised by directing large scale solar projects to locate on previously developed and non-greenfield land.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about delays in connecting renewable energy schemes to the national grid

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 24th July 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of delays in connecting solar farms and wind turbines to the national grid; and what steps they are taking to accelerate this process.

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Bishop of Exeter asks about land use by solar farms

The Bishop of Exeter received the following written answer on 6th June 2023:

The Lord Bishop of Exeter asked His Majesty’s Government:

  • how many acres of agricultural land which were previously being farmed were given over to solar farms in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, (3) 2020, (4) 2021, and (5) 2022.
  • what assessment they have made of the impact on UK food security of giving over farm land to solar farms.

Lord Benyon (Con): Defra has previously published statistics for the amounts of land changing use during individual years from 2013 to 14 through to 2017 to 2018. The Department intends to provisionally publish similar figures for the three year period 2019 to 2022 using a revised methodology during June or July 2023, however, the figures are not detailed enough to provide the information requested.

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Bishop of Salisbury urges a rethink on Government renewable energy proposals

On the 16 March 2016 the Bishop of Salisbury, Rt Revd Nicholas Holtham, took part in a debate to approve the Government’s draft Renewables Obligation Closure Etc. (Amendment) Order 2016. Baroness Featherstone also tabled a Motion to Regret the change. The draft instrument closes the renewables obligation from 1 April 2016 (12 months early) to solar PV generating stations at 5 megawatts and below. It applies both to new generating stations and to existing stations that wish to add additional capacity up to the 5 megawatts threshold. The Bishop’s speech is below and the vote on the Regret Motion can be seen here.

Bp Salisbury 2The Lord Bishop of Salisbury: My Lords, it is curious to rehearse the same arguments so soon after the recent debate on feed-in tariffs. It is very disappointing in the wake of the success in Paris of COP 21, and the enthusiasm engendered from that about a new level of ambition in response to human-caused climate change. I feel as though the Minister is in a position of defending the indefensible. The noble Baroness, Lady Byford, made a very good point about the place of subsidies and pump-priming. Therefore, it is disappointing that the Government are not working more effectively with the renewable energy sector to build on the considerable success of that industry.

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