Wiltshire second-best county for solar production in UK

Wiltshire is the UK’s second-best county in the UK for the production of solar power, a new survey has revealed.

The county was ranked behind Cornwall and ahead of Somerset. With Dorset in fourth place, the league table was dominated by counties in the south west.

Cornwall generated an estimated 536,496 MWh of solar power, with Wiltshire producing 481,786 MWh, and 429,123 MWh produced in Somerset.

The report was produced by Solar4Good using official solar data supplied by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero.

But while environmentalists might celebrate, the way power is generated on large-scale solar schemes on farmland in the county has its detractors – Wiltshire Council among them.

Lime Down Solar Park has become the emblematic row, with a proposal for a 2,200 acre “solar factory” between Malmesbury and the M4 being decided by government inspectors rather than the council.

The scheme would generate 500 MWh of solar power – but would require thousands of huge solar panels over an area measuring two by four miles.

Critics, including councillors and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) argue that big solar farms, plus associated battery storage and cabling, amount to the “industrialisation” of what had been open countryside.

In April, councillors turned down an application by Blue Stone Renewables for a 17-hectare solar farm near Melksham generating 14 megawatts of energy.

Councillors expressed concern at the cumulative effect of solar farms around the town, which would equate to three times the total residential area. Bluestone has appealed against the council’s decision.

Similarly, councillors opposed a 2023 application for the 23 megawatt Swallett Energy Park on a 114-hectare site near Chippenham. Exagen Development Limited appealed against refusal and won, being granted planning permission by a government inspector in January.

Councillors have repeatedly argued that Wiltshire is already taking “more than its fair share” of solar and that there are “too many” large solar farms, while CPRE Wiltshire and local campaigners have for several years argued there are already “too many” solar farms and warned of “semi‑industrial” countryside as more applications come forward.

But Wiltshire Climate Alliance notes Wiltshire currently generates only about six per cent of its total energy demand from renewables, based on Wiltshire Council’s own Climate Strategy.

Wiltshire Council’s formal stance is that it supports rooftop and community energy schemes.

It recently unveiled plans to cover the car park of its new Trowbridge Leisure Centre with solar panels mounted on canopies.