Campaigners call for solar panels on warehouse rooftops

By Liza Helps Property Editor Logistics Matters

THE STOP Green Hill Solar group are keen to point out they are not against solar panels per se: “We want renewable energies, but in the right locations - on industrial and warehouse rooftops, of which Northamptonshire has many!”

Island Green Power wants to build its solar farm across eight sites totalling some 2,965 acres between Lavendon in Buckinghamshire and Mears Ashby in Northamptonshire.

The firm said that Green Hill Solar Farm has the potential to generate electricity of up to 500 mega watts (MW). “This would be enough o power approximately 115,000 homes annually and, if the proposals are consented, Green Hill would make a vital contribution to the UK’s targets for clean energy.”

The size of the project means that it is considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) and as such will be considered by the Planning Inspectorate rather than going though various Local Authorities for planning approval. Shortly after the General Election Labour’s Energy Minister Ed Miliband pledged to triple the amount of solar power in the UK by 2030.

In a BBC report earlier this month a local resident affected by the proposal said: “They could have put them on to all the warehouses that have been developed in Northamptonshire and we would be almost self-sufficient already."

And he is probably not wrong.

A report by the UK Warehousing Association in 2022 noted that: “UK warehousing has the roof space for up to 15 Gigawatts (GW) of new solar, which would double the UK’s solar PV capacity. This could meet National Grid’s minimum requirements for solar expansion by 2030… producing up to 13.8 TWh of electricity per year enabling the warehouse sector to become a net producer of green electricity.”

Already in France it is a legal requirement to put a solar canopy on all new car parks. According to the Campaign for Protection of Rural England: “Installing solar modules on the UK’s car parks and new buildings could generate 31 GW. Taken together, all suitable roof space and car parks in the UK could generate a whopping 117 GW, substantially more than the government’s total solar target of 70 GW.”

It has called on the Government to set a target for generating at least 60% of the UK’s solar energy from rooftops and make it easier and cheaper to install panels on existing homes and commercial buildings.

While putting solar panels on warehouse rooftops (or indeed any rooftop) is not in itself difficult to achieve - this real issue is that the DNOs and the National Grid have struggle to manage  power  intakes down the line from the original power source. It is common knowledge that there are many landlords and occupiers seeking to secure large PV arrays on their rooftops who are then told they cannot by the DNOs and so despite securing planning permission do not then go onto build them or if they do, these are only a fraction of the size that could be accommodated.

Solar Farms are considered temporary and the one being put forward by Island Green Power, which is 50% owned by Australian asset manager Macquarie Group, is for a term of 60 years. Should the project secure a go-ahead it is expected to take two years to build, going operational in 2029.

The Issue of Power forms the first session of the Tomorrow's Warehouse Event  inaugural property seminar in Manchester next week.