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Striking plans to build a new solar farm in Herne Bay have sparked claims the town has become one of the greenest in the country.
Global energy firm Vattenfall is set to launch a bid to erect hundreds of panels, which will power 5,000 homes a year, across a 66-acre plot south of the A299 Thanet Way.
If given the go-ahead by Canterbury City Council, the site will be the latest source of renewable energy in Herne Bay, joining the solar farm in Owl’s Hatch Road and the Kentish Flats Wind Farm off the coast.
And with plans already approved for a hydrogen plant to be built in Greenhill, Cllr Dan Watkins believes the town can attract more green companies and research.
“Greenhill is one of the best places for doing renewable energy projects in the south east,” the Conservative said.
“It’s because the electricity grid has already been upgraded to accommodate the Kentish Flats Wind Farm, and it’s also quite a sunny part of England.
“Herne Bay must be now one of the greenest towns in the country. With wind, solar and hydrogen power all here, we are really leading the way.
“We want to create a cluster of renewable energy projects and have Herne Bay leading the way as a place for all companies and universities interested in the green economy to collaborate in our area.”
The panels in Owl’s Hatch Road form one of Britain's largest solar farms, covering 212 acres – an area the equivalent of almost 150 football pitches.
Producing enough energy to power 14,000 homes, the complex has been operating since 2015.
Meanwhile, the 45-turbine site north of the town was the largest wind farm in the country when it was developed in 2005.
The development, which is also run by Vattenfall, creates enough electricity for 62,000 households a year.
The new solar farm, called Solar@Kentish Flats, will share the grid connection and onshore infrastructure already used by the turbines.
Vattenfall says this would mean the construction process would take less time and minimise disruption.
It also stresses that the electricity it creates will be channelled into the local grid.
“There is an ongoing conversation that we’re having about making this a community energy project, whereby the council takes the energy and uses it locally,” Cllr Watkins added.
“The solar farm will obviously be good for cutting pollution and create jobs locally.
"Herne Bay must be now one of the greenest towns in the country. With wind, solar and hydrogen power all here, we are really leading the way..."
“The downsides are fairly limited. It’ll be on low-grade agricultural land and it’s not going to be that visible.”
The company hopes to submit its plans for the land - to the west of Thornden Wood Road, opposite the former Share and Coulter pub - in September, before beginning work on the site next summer.
It anticipates the solar farm to be generating electricity by the end of 2021.
Vattenfall’s Chris Angell said: “Kent has huge potential to be one of the leading renewable energy hubs in the UK.”
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