Infrabee announce major business developments including connection agreement for South Stainley solar farm | Harrogate Informer

Green energy provider Infrabee has said that it is celebrating some major business developments.

The business has been securing planning permission for a number of sites, and then bidding to supply power under the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. The (CfD) scheme guarantees fixed payments for electricity generators by shielding them from fluctuating market prices, encouraging investment into renewable energy production and limiting the prospect of financial losses.

This is a  joint-venture between real estate specialists Boultbee Brooks  and low-carbon infrastructure development company, Infraland. Infraland re-branded itself under the new name of Cambridge-based Infrabee.

Infrabee will produce and supply renewable energy solutions through a series of solar and battery sites across both the UK and Europe. Currently 25 sites planned across the UK which are either under development or ready to build, with five expected to connect over the next 18 months and the rest due to be energised over the next four years.

Recent developments:

• Plans for a 29-hectare solar farm site in the New Forest were approved
• Plans approved for an £8.5m solar farm proposal on land close to Walkford Farm on the border of Bransgore and New Milton in Hampshire, which will provide enough electricity for up to 5,000 homes a year
• Costock and Burton Top in South Stainley – have recently qualified under auction round six of the Government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme which offers green energy producers long-term revenue protection.
• Costock in Nottinghamshire (66MW) and Burton Top in South Stainley, just north of Harrogate (10MW), were successful in the auction process with a strike price of £50.07/MW.

Long-term CfDs are struck between the generator and the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) which is Government owned and fixes the ‘strike price’ or the level of income per unit of electricity.

Auction round six is by far the biggest ever designated by the Government with yearly subsidies of more than £1bn available to a range of renewable technologies, including offshore wind, solar, onshore wind and tidal stream.

Infrabee Director Henry Brown, comments:

We are delighted that the various projects we have embarked on are beginning to show the fruits of our and the wider team’s labour. This is a truly exciting double win for the team.

The clean energy from the New Forest solar farm would result in a reduction in carbon emissions equivalent to taking about 2,140 petrol cars off the road for 40 years.

Fellow Director, Nick Barber, added:

It is great to have received our planning consent at the New Milton site. Our success in the CfD auction is also very exciting as it will enable us to develop and deliver green energy solutions with the financial backing and support of the Government.

About Burton Top in South Stainley

The site’s capacity is 10MW (DC). The export to the grid capacity is 8MW (AC).

Planning consent was given on the 17 April 2024 – construction hasn’t yet begun.

• Ground mounted solar farm on land located west of Station Road, to the south of Wormald Green and to the north of Burton Top Farm, South Stainley.

Infrabee are a developer of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Plants (or ‘Solar Farms’), and say they are committed to responsible land use and believe that the development and commercial delivery of medium and large-scale solar farms can be achieved in harmony with their surroundings.

The site will cover an area of approximately 19 hectares located within the parish of South Stainley. Access to the site during the solar farm’s operation will be from an existing farm access on Station Road. The site is located to the south of the village of Wormald Green.

Full planning permission for the construction of a solar farm and associated infrastructure on 7.7ha of the site was permitted by Harrogate Borough Council in 2015 having been found by officers and members of the planning committee to accord with the relevant policies of the Council’s Development Plan.

These latest proposals make more efficient use of the land available and deliver a scheme with greater energy generating potential whilst working within the environmental capacity of the site and its surroundings.

The land comprises two large agricultural fields, entirely in arable use, and neighbours further agricultural land.

Station Road borders the site to the east with further agricultural land and an electricity substation beyond. The land is classified as being grade 3 agricultural land according to Natural England’s Agricultural Land Classification Map.

Vegetation at the site is limited to a small number of existing hedgerows along the site’s boundaries. Small areas of woodland are located outside the proposed development area, to the north, southeast and southwest of the site.

Energy Generation

The site has the potential to generate 10MW of power which equates to the annual energy consumption of approximately 3,000 homes.

Design and Layout

Photovoltaic (PV) panels will be laid out in arrays of rows running from east to west across the site. The solar panels will be fixed on a pile-driven metal mounting frame securely fixed to the ground with posts.

The height of the panels will be at a maximum of 3.087 meters from ground level. The panels will be installed at around 25 degrees from the horizontal, around 5.0m apart and would be fixed in that orientation.

The site plan also shows the infrastructure required for the operation of the farm, housed in cabinets.

None of this on-site infrastructure is to be greater than 3.95m tall. A 2.5m high metre security fence would be required around the edge of the panels, as well as CCTV cameras facing into the site. There would be no need for floodlighting. As much of the equipment as possible will be colour coordinated with the landscape.

The layout shown is an impression of how the site could be arranged. The final design will be subject to the results of the detailed technical site investigations being undertaken, along with feedback from community and stakeholder consultation.

Glint and Glare

An assessment of the potential for glint and glare arising from the solar panels will be undertaken. No impact upon the safety of road users, residential amenity or aviation operations is anticipated.

Traffic Generation and construction

Solar farms generate minimal traffic movements as they require little maintenance. The largest generation of traffic comes at the construction phase of the project. The construction phase is anticipated to be 12-16 weeks long. Construction traffic will access the site via the existing farm access road which joins Station Road to the south of the site.

Once operational the Site will be unmanned with operational activities restricted to occasional visits for maintenance.

The development would also mean that the number of large farm vehicles accessing the site would reduce as there would not be any arable farming activity on the fields whilst the solar farm is in operation.

Access to the Site for maintenance vehicles will be provided via the existing farm access from Station Road as shown on the draft layout plan.

De-commissioning

The scheme has been designed to have the lightest possible impact on the land in terms of structural loading.

At the end of the 35-40 year period the structure, including all ancillary equipment and cabling, would be carefully dismantled and removed from the site.

Materials would be reused or taken to an appropriate location for recycling or disposal. The site would be reinstated for full agriculture use.

Landscape and Ecology Strategy

The proposed landscape strategy focuses on reinforcing existing native hedgerows which are in good or fair structural condition and good physiological condition and currently provide effective screening around the site.

This will be achieved through infilling gaps in exiting hedgerows and providing additional scattered native tree planting, that will resemble hedgerow tree planting in the local landscape context.

The proposed landscaping will provide additional screening of the proposed infrastructure and reinforce and create new habitats.

The proposed new native tree planting along the east, west and south of the site will introduce beneficial wildlife corridors between existing woodland blocks to be used by both birds and bats.

New enhanced grassland is proposed for the area beneath the PV panels and a new wildflower mix is proposed around the peripheries of the site to introduce greater biodiversity and provide foraging habitat for insects and invertebrates.

The enhanced grassland beneath the proposed PV panels could be maintained through an appropriate grazing regime to retain both the agricultural character of the land and the ecological quality of the grass mix.

The variety of proposed native tree and hedgerow species, and new improved and maintained grassland areas will protect and enhance the existing landscape quality and character while reinforcing existing habitats with additional year-round food and shelter resources.