Solar farm plan for former coal mining site near Bishop Auckland

Bluefield Renewable Developments Ltd, a UK based green energy business, is seeking to engage with Durham communities on plans for a solar farm on a former coal mining site near Bishop Auckland. The proposals would generate significant renewable energy, reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels and help Durham County Council to achieve its ambitious climate change targets.

The Bluefield Group already owns and operates over 117 similar solar farms around the UK and mainland Europe, generating 766 Megawatts (MW) of electricity enough to power 290,000 homes, an equivalent of 85 per cent of all the houses in County Durham.

Should the project go ahead, it would be able to generate enough electricity to power nearly 13,000 households annually. This would represent a projected carbon emission reduction of approximately 8,700 tonnes, the equivalent of taking around 5,500 cars off the road each year.

“We are aware of the huge transformation which County Durham has undergone over the past half century or so - and of the changes it needs to make to achieve its climate ambitions.” said Jonathan Selwyn, managing director with Bluefield Renewable Developments Ltd.

“We believe our proposal supports the UK’s drive towards sustainable energy from renewable sources, using a site that until around 30 years ago produced non-renewable carbon-based fuel for the region. Its setting means that, with limited additional screening through planting, the solar farm would be virtually unseen.”

Communication with local councillors is already underway and consultation events, where people can find out more about and comment on the proposal, are being planned for the autumn.

Should the project receive planning approval, Durham County Council would benefit from around £7m in business rates over the typical 40 year period for which permission is usually granted for solar farms.

A clause relating to the sale of the former council land would mean that the local authority would financially benefit further, receiving an uplift in value on the land. In addition, a £300,000 fund would be established for the benefit of the local community.

Bluefield Development is sympathetic to the local industrial heritage of the site – including the nearby disused former branch line of the Stockton and Darlington railway and the designated scheduled monument of Cockfield Fell. It will seek to work with local interest groups to ensure these are protected and ideally enhanced.

Bluefield also has two additional 49.9MW projects currently in for planning consideration with neighbouring Northumberland County Council.

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily