Proposals for a new solar farm at two sites near Braintree will be the subject of a public consultation launching in early October.
EDF Renewables UK is bringing forward the proposed Cressing Solar Farm on land close to the railway line between Black Notley and Tye Green, and at land adjacent to Lanham Wood to the north of Cressing.
The two sites, called Cressing West and Cressing East respectively, would be connected to one another by an underground cable which would also connect the solar farm to the national electricity grid at the Braintree Substation.
The proposed Cressing Solar Farm would have the potential to generate up to 49.9MW of renewable electricity, enough to meet the needs of approximately 9,500 homes every year[1]. In addition to this, the solar farm could save approximately 21,500 tonnes of carbon in emissions[2].
Anyone who wants to find out more about the proposals can speak to the project team at two public exhibitions that will be taking place at the following dates and times:
- The Notleys Golf Club, Witham Road, White Notley, Witham, Essex, CM8 1ST
Thursday 6 October 2022, 3:30pm to 7:30pm
- St Barnabas Church Hall, Claud Ince Avenue, Cressing CM77 8HJ
Saturday 8 October 2022, 1:00pm to 5:00pm
The consultation information will also be available to view through a dedicated project website: www.edf-re.uk/cressing from Wednesday 5 October 2022. This will include proposed site layouts and an online feedback form.
Anyone who is unable to attend the public exhibitions can request free hard copies of the consultation information and feedback form by calling 0800 169 6507 or by emailing Cressing.Solar@edf-re.uk
Once the consultation closes on 31 October, EDF Renewables UK will consider the feedback that it receives before submitting planning applications for the sites to Braintree District Council in early 2023.
EDF Renewables UK’s battery storage team, Pivot Power, previously received planning permission for a battery energy storage system on land adjacent to the Braintree Substation, which we are now amending. This can operate independently but if the solar farm were to be approved, it will be integrated with the battery energy storage scheme to help provide low carbon electricity to the grid network.
James Lyons from EDF Renewables UK said: “The launch of our pre-application consultation is an important milestone for the project and we’re looking forward to presenting our proposals at the public consultation events.
We have met with some of our close neighbours already and would encourage anyone who is interested in the proposals to visit one of the exhibition events or to view the information on our website.
The feedback that we receive will guide us in finalising the layouts that we will submit to the Council next year.”
Further information about the project is available at www.edf-re.uk/cressing
[1] Based upon the average domestic electricity consumption per home (temperature corrected) per the Energy Consumption in the UK (published July 2019, Table C9 of ECUK: Consumption data tables)
[2] Based upon BEIS’s “all fossil fuels” emissions statistic of 450 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh of electricity supplied in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (published July 2019, p96)
Notes to editors
About EDF Renewables UK and Ireland
EDF Renewables UK and Ireland has an operating portfolio of 38 sites (more than 1GW) and we are providing some of the much needed new affordable, low carbon electricity across all technologies. We have an expanding renewables portfolio with almost 5GW of projects in planning and development across wind, battery and solar and we have 700MW currently under construction. We also have offices in Edinburgh, Rainton Bridge (near Durham), London and Dublin.
Pivot Power is part of EDF Renewables and is developing large-scale battery storage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure at over 30 sites across the UK. This network will create up to 2GW of flexible capacity, which is essential to future-proof our electricity system and provide the power for mass-scale, rapid electric vehicle charging.
