Parc Worlton will deliver a 55% biodiversity net gain, in line with Lightrock’s stated commitment to ensuring its projects are wildlife friendly. Image: Lightrock Power.

The Welsh planning authority has granted consent to developer Lightrock Power for a 40MW solar plant near Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.

The project, Parc Worlton, is co-owned by Lightrock’s development partner, Bluefield Solar Income Fund. It is the first project from the developer to be located in Wales.

The decision by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) comes after a change to planning rules in Wales that had previously required renewable energy projects with capacities larger than 10MW to acquire permission directly from the Welsh government under the Developments of National Significance (DNS) process.

Once engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts are signed, Lightrock expects construction to take around nine months.

Parc Worlton will deliver a 55% biodiversity net gain, in line with Lightrock’s stated commitment to ensuring its projects are wildlife friendly; it partnered with the RSPB in 2021 and works with wildlife organisations including the UK Wild Otter Trust.

In 2022, the developer worked with the RSPB to ensure its 49.9MW solar plant in East Devon benefitted its surrounding biodiversity, to much local community support. Similar efforts are now being made by other developers on larger scale solar PV projects as an effort to garner local support.

Lightrock Power co-founder Chris Sowerbutts said the firm is “particularly proud” of the 55% biodiversity net gain that the project will deliver and thanked the local community for its engagement and feedback.

Parc Wolton is the first of Lightrock’s projects to receive planning consent this year, but, along with partner Bluefield, it is expecting a decision on a 100MW battery energy storage system (BESS) project in the south of England soon, with a planning committee meeting scheduled for later this week. The development has been recommended for approval.

RSPB supporting solar

The RSPB’s partnership with Lightrock is not its only collaboration with the UK’s solar industry. It teamed up with Lightsource bp in 2014 and with Anesco in 2016. The charity has also installed a mix of rooftop solar and solar carports at seven of its nature reserves, with this financed by a £700,000 loan from ethical banking firm Triodos.

More recently, it collaborated with Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners on a habitat management plan for the 373MW Cleve Hill Solar Park, the first project in the UK to be classed as a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP).

It has also partnered with UK-based developer Elements Green, which has seen an 800MW solar generation plant in Nottinghamshire renamed the Great North Road Solar and Biodiversity Park.