Is UK's biggest solar farm a blueprint for future?

On an overcast November day Cleve Hill can still generate enough electricity to power 20,000 homes

With more than half a million solar panels standing 9ft 10in (3m) off the ground, Cleve Hill Solar Park near Faversham, in Kent, is an imposing site.

It is the biggest solar park in the country and almost five times bigger than the next largest solar site in operation.

It has been generating electricity for five months and, at times during the summer, produced 0.7% of Great Britain's energy needs.

The government plans to more than double the amount of solar energy in the UK in the next five years and Cleve Hill is seen as a forerunner to the mega solar farms coming down the line.

'Need big projects'

Keith Gains from Quinbrook says solar energy from a 'free resource' will make consumer bills cheaper in time

The BBC was given exclusive access to Cleve Hill, which in 2020 became the first solar plant to receive planning consent at government level as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs).

Since then, 11 NSIPs have been approved by the government.

Even on an overcast November day, the park generates enough electricity to power 20,000 homes.

Keith Gains the managing director of Quinbrook, the company who built Cleve Hill, said the UK will need lots more big solar projects to decarbonise electricity generation and provide energy security.

"We're going to need big projects" he said, if the UK is to reach its net zero target.

Big projects, he added, "enable us to generate electricity at a cheaper rate than a series of smaller projects".

Around 80 solar farms the size of Cleve Hill - 373MW - are needed by 2030 for the government is to reach its solar target.

Three large-scale solar farms are planned on Kent's Romney Marsh.

A 99.9MW solar farm - Stonestreet Green Solar Park near Ashford - was approved by the government last month.

Wildlife has returned

When Cleve Hill was granted planning permission in 2020 there was strong local opposition.

Kent Wildlife Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) opposed the scheme, arguing the development would threaten wildlife, including marsh harriers.

The park now includes 136 acres of habitat dedicated to bird species.

Golden plover and brent geese have been spotted on the park and water voles have been found living in the channels and ditches on the site.

"The wildlife is here," said Mr Gains. "Some has returned and some has always been here."

Official surveys of the site's wildlife are yet to be carried out.

Jonny Sampson says at times over the summer the park generated its maximum capacity

One reason the site was chosen was its ability to use the same substation as the London Array wind farm to connect to the national grid.

In the high-tech switchgear control room, senior engineer Jonny Sampson from Fichtner Consulting Engineers held a cross-section of an enormous 2,500 mm2 cable.

"There are three of them in the ground," he said. "It allows us to connect to the national grid and for the energy to be exported throughout Kent and across the country".

Over the summer, the park generated its maximum capacity. Output will naturally fall as winter sets in.

The government's Clean Power 2030 plan hopes the UK will generate 45-46GW of solar energy by 2030.

Cleve Hill coming online in July tipped the current solar capacity in the UK to over 20GW.

The solar park is a goliath - but it will need to be joined by many other solar giants for the government to reach its goals.