Chichester: Solar panel plans for farm submitted to council

If approved, the panel would be installed at Reeds Farm, in Colworth Lane, Oving, West Sussex

Plans to install 68 solar panels at a West Sussex farm working towards net zero have been submitted to a council.

The Woodhorn Group submitted the proposal to Chichester District Council for Reeds Farm, Oving.

Panels would be installed in a yard that has stored farming equipment and silage bales for more than 50 years.

They will be 3.8m (12.4ft), cover 462 sq metres of land and have a 52kw capacity, if approved.

"As part of our organic and sustainability ethos, we are working to a net zero objective," a statement said.

It added: "This project is specifically designed to address our electricity use via the installation of solar panels."

The group said this would make "the dairy farm self-sufficient in renewable power for our milking parlour, water heating and milk cooling plants".

The solar panels would also provide lighting in all the farm's buildings.

The plan had originally been to install the panels on south-facing farm buildings but none were suitable from a strength and design perspective, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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