Almost 50 hectares of farmland between Paulton and Midsomer Norton could be given over to solar panels. View the application below:

A plan by Pathfinder Clean Energy would see solar panels installed across 13 fields, of various sizes, just between the village of Paulton and Midsomer Norton.

The farm, which would cover a total of 45.48 hectares, would generate 26 megawatts of power — just over 10% of the 300MW that Bath and North East Somerset needs to achieve net zero.

In a covering letter, Pathfinder stated: “The solar arrays will generate electricity during daylight hours, which will be fed into the local distribution network for use in homes and businesses on the network.”

The panels will strand 3 metres off the grass, and Pathfinder said: “During operation, it is intended that sheep will be permitted to graze under the development in order to manage field growth and therefore will retain an agricultural use throughout its operation.

“The site can be returned to agriculture at the end of the development’s operational life.“

The solar farm is currently planned to run for up to 40 years.

The covering letter added: “Hedgerows, field margins and trees will remain largely unaffected and therefore habitats for bats and many species of birds will not be disturbed, and will be improved through appropriate management.”

It is intended that the hedges will mostly screen the solar farm from view.

Battery storage on the site would mean power generated at periods of low demand could be stored and fed into the National Grid at peak times.

No planning application has yet been submitted to the council for the plans, with Pathfinder currently in the pre-application phase determining what environmental information is needed.

There is no option to comment at this phase, but you can view the application here.

More information will be included when a full planning application is submitted.

LDRS, John Wimperis

The Journal will update readers as soon as the full planning application is submitted.