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Aura Power is working on a solar farm proposal west of Rayleigh with a capacity of up to 30MW. Rayleigh Solar Farm will be built without subsidy and would generate enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of over 11,000 homes, saving around 13,000 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year.
Essex County Council has committed to make Essex carbon neutral by 2050 and this solar farm can help in this vital challenge as we ‘build back greener’ from the global health crisis.
Rayleigh Solar Farm will not only increase the supply of clean power but as solar is the lowest cost form of new energy generation it will also help to reduce national power prices.
It offers a number of benefits locally with increased biodiversity proposals and a community benefit fund of £350 per MW per year (index-linked), for the lifetime of the solar farm. This equates to over £10,000 a year for 40 years or over £400,000 in total, used locally for social and environmental projects. We are also offering educational sessions with local schools and site visits to the solar farm.
As a local business, our solar farm will be contributing over £50,000 in business rates to Rochford District Council every year.
Further details on the proposal and frequently asked questions can be found further down this page.
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5th April22 |We recently submitted our planning application to Rochford District Council. You can view and comment on the application by clicking here.
Planning application reference: 22/00175/FUL
We held a public consultation presentation and Q&A via Zoom to present our initial plans and answer any questions from the local community.
Design Finalised. We will consider all community feedback from the Public Consultation before finalising the design, ready for submission.
Planning application submitted. Local residents are invited to share their comments on the application as well as statutory consultees.
Planning Decision. Rochford District Council will consider our plans and consult with statutory consultees and local residents.
Construction (If approved). If planning permission is granted we will begin construction no earlier than Spring/Summer 2023.
Stated figure is calculated using BEIS ‘Sub-national electricity consumption statistics 2019’ (latest publish Dec 2020) which reports an average domestic consumption per Rochford District Council Household of 4117 kwh
Calculated using the UK Government Gas Conversion Factor, BEIS, 2020 of 0.2773 Tonnes Carbon/MWh. NV Calculations based on the PV Syst generation report for the proposed layout
Estimated figure calculated using an average mileage of 9435 miles per year (MOT data from RAC Foundation) and an average power consumption of 2,887 kWh (Electric Vehicle Database 2021)
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Listening to the views of the local community is very important to us and your feedback has helped shape our design. We presented our initial plans and answered questions live from the local community via Zoom on Tuesday 14th September. This was recorded and is available to view along with the slides from the presentation below.
We have now submitted the planning application which is available to view and comment on here. Consultation is an ongoing process and we are open to speaking to residents about their concerns and questions and are welcome to contact us at any time.
This webinar was presented to the local community and interested parties regarding Rayleigh Solar Farm. The presentation was delivered by Aura Power and followed by a Q&A session. Viewers are invited to submit their questions to chloe.hood@aurapower.com
We have been undertaken several environmental and visual surveys to help inform our design as well as consulting with local residents. Our proposal offers several ecological and local benefits, along with continued agricultural use, with sheep being able to graze beneath the panels.
Our aim is to design the solar farm appropriately and as sensitively as possible to the surroundings, whilst maximising the generation of clean energy.
The proposed site layout is shown in the image to the left. New tree and hedgerow planting is proposed across the site along with species rich grassland to improve the local natural environment. The landscaping proposals will result in a biodiversity net gain of 141%.
The application has now been submitted, however we remain open to engaging with local residents and councillors.
This site has been carefully selected due to:
• Suitable landscape between railway and busy A road
• Good existing screening with an ability to screen further through tree and hedgerow planting
• Onsite powerlines
• Next to Rayleigh’s electricity substation where we have a grid connection
• Opportunity to boost biodiversity
• Close to the town which can benefit from clean renewable energy
• Excellent levels of solar irradiation in this part of the country
Your feedback is very important to us. Please leave a comment and one of our project team will get back to you as soon as possible.
30 Queen Square
Penthouse Office
Bristol BS1 4ND
+44 (0) 117 214 1982
Designed by The SourdoughPenthouse Office
30 Queen Square
Bristol BS1 4ND
+44 (0) 117 214 1982