The UK will be getting its first ever purpose-built solar farm in Truro, Cornwall.
35 Degrees is the solar company who has won the permission to begin £4 million construction at a former tin mine site, Wheal Jane.
The farm will cover 5 acres of land and will generate 1.3MW of electricity through a massive 6,000 metre-high photovoltaic panels.
Cornwall Council have given the loan for the construction and believe there to be a further £1 billion investment for the county. They hope that others will follow suit and apply for building permissions.
Lucy Hunt, manager at Cornwall Development Company, the economic development company for Cornwall Council, said: “We’re seeing the start of a Cornwall solar gold rush.”
While solar energy has yet to make the impact of other renewable energy sources such as wind power, it is seen as having great potential. An average sized domestic solar PV system in the UK will generate 2,125 kWh per year, more than half the typical household.
In the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review the feed-in tariff plans were maintained. This was welcomed by the solar energy industry.
Solarcentury’s executive chairman, Jeremy Leggett, said: “My colleagues and I are delighted that the coalition politicians who understand the potential for UK plc in the unfolding global solar revolution have maintained course with the feed-in tariff.”