THREE years of…

• Noise, dust and disruption from a big, busy construction site – including the loud, repetitive, mind-numbing thud of pile-driving around 250,000 metal posts into the ground
• Danger, disruption and delays from hundreds of HGVs – 7,200 traffic movements and 1,400 artic trucks just to deliver close to 700,000 photovoltaic panels, all cheap Chinese imports
• Construction traffic on the busy B645, known for accident blackspots, and narrow country B and C roads ranging across the whole site, as well as access routes to the A1 and A14, impacting Kimbolton, Perry and other local villages
• Extra local traffic as up to 850 construction workers go to and from the multiple sites – at peak times, up to 10,200 weekly traffic movements just for the site workers
• Dust everywhere and dangerous mud on the roads from the construction of the huge infrastructure needed to support hundreds of thousands of solar panels and banks of shipping container-sized battery energy storage units
• Restricted access to much-loved footpaths and bridleways while the developer converts fertile agricultural land to power production

Lorry convoys during the construction of the Cleve Hill solar NSIP

FORTY years of…

• Beautiful countryside transformed into a six-mile solar corridor – and more rural communities labelled ‘black mirror villages’ by the media
• Field after field across 1,900 acres of high grade farmland filled with nearly 700,000 panels in ugly ranks of glinting glass and metal, complete with around 40 miles of fencing on 12,000 metal fence posts, CCTV cameras, industrial lighting and security patrols  
• A 100MW battery energy storage compound consisting of 96 container units filled with thousands of lithium-ion batteries, well known for serious explosion and fire risks – failure incidents on these systems are described as a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’
• Criminals attracted to the area to steal the cabling and other valuable components and plant
• The developer – and local farmers who have leased their land – earning millions every year while ordinary residents are left counting the cost of ‘hosting’ a renewables facility that is not capable of delivering annual power outputs even close to its installed capacity

CGI courtesy UK Solar Alliance