Locals get first look at giant solar farm plans

Developer RWE says the High Grove development would generate enough power for almost all the homes in Norfolk

People living around the site of a huge solar farm planned for Breckland have had their first chance to meet developers.

The energy firm RWE wants to build panels on five sites, generating enough energy to power 363,000 homes.

Consultation events for the High Grove Solar Farm project are under way ahead of a formal planning application, expected to be submitted in Autumn 2025.

While many visitors to the consultation event in Swaffham supported the idea of renewable energy, they had concerns about the scale of the project.

Kerry Locke and her mother Valarie live in Holme Hale. They're worried the size of the development will impact the feel of the countryside

The High Grove site is a solar and battery storage project aimed at providing 720MW of clean energy.

It would be distributed across five proposed development areas in Norfolk, about 1.5 km (nearly one mile) southwest of Dereham, 2km (1.25 miles) east of Necton, and 2km north of Watton.

'Views hindered'

Kerry Locke and her mother Valarie live in Holme Hale, which would be in the development area. They visited the RWE information event to hear about the project.

Valarie said she was impressed by the plans.

"We were slightly concerned it would impact the wildlife but they do seem to be worried about that too and the local views too," she said.

But Kerry said she was not feeling reassured.

"I'm worried about it we're going to get our views hindered," she said.

"Norfolk is a countryside county. We like to see the views, the nature, the wildlife and we're worried it's all going to be spoiled."

Map showing the five proposed development areas which combined cover 4000 acres

The project would have its own battery storage plant and the cables needed to connect it to the grid would be underground.

Helen Carrier lives in Denver near Downham Market.

"I think it's fine," she said. "It's a large area but you've got to think about the environment."

She praised the Government's commitment to renewable energy.

The secretary of state for energy recently approved plans for a controversial solar farm on the Cambridge/Suffolk border.

The 2,500-acre Sunnica Energy farm would be dwarfed by the High Grove development in Norfolk, which would cover 4,000 acres.

'We're going to be surrounded by it'

Concerns about the scale of the project were underlined by Mark Whaler, who lives in the village of Bradenham.

"It's not something we envisaged when we moved to the area eight years ago," he said.

"We all realise that solar panels are going to play a role in the future and some small developments would be welcome.

"But we're going to be surrounded by it. Top bottom and sides".

The government is expected to increase the use of solar power in the UK to meet its net zero target by 2050.

Mike Gresler from RWE at a drop-in event in Swaffham to tell people more about the project

Mike Gresler, from the energy company RWE, is the project manager for High Grove.

One concern brought to him by locals was the conversion of productive farm land into fields for panels.

"We need 50 GW of solar by 2035 and if we can deliver that it does only equate to 0.25% of all land. That's a very small amount of land to deliver net zero and energy security," he said.

In a speech to The Energy UK Conference, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said he would take on the "blockers, the delayers, the obstructionists" because the need to establish energy security was so great.

Subject to planning permission, the earliest that construction would begin on the project would be 2028.