Solar farm to be built on land near former North Yorkshire colliery

BROWNFIELD land regeneration and property investment specialist Harworth Group has completed a deal to construct a 5MW solar farm in 28 acres of land near the former Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire.

Kellingley Solar Farm secured planning consent for the solar farm in July 2015 and completed a 31-year lease with Harworth Group last month.

Construction of the solar farm will commence shortly, with a target generation date of March 2017.

This solar farm will be the tenth farm operating on Harworth land in the UK.  Once the Kellingley solar farm is operational, the solar farms will deliver a maximum of 62.8MW of energy capacity – enough to power more than 20,000 homes.

Hannah Moxon, senior estates manager in Harworth’s natural resources team, said: “This is an excellent deal for Harworth and low-carbon energy developments form an important part of increasing our recurring income base.  Although the basis for renewables subsidies has now changed, we remain convinced that solar and wind farms are an important part of the UK energy mix and we believe the Government’s proposed Industrial Strategy should reintroduce incentives to bring further developments forward.”