Welcome to Cottam Solar Project

The decommissioning of the coal-powered Cottam Power Station presents the opportunity – and the need – to repower the region with clean, green energy, while utilising existing grid infrastructure.

We need to significantly reduce carbon emissions in the UK, while also developing solutions that ensure we have a reliable source of affordable energy. We are committed to ambitious climate change targets while currently experiencing some of the highest electricity costs in Europe, often relying on increasingly expensive electricity and gas imports.

This means we need to increase our supply of low carbon electricity. The Cottam Solar Project / West Burton Solar Project is well placed to contribute towards this. With energy storage, the project will be able to provide clean power to people’s homes when they need it the most. Energy storage helps consumers save money by having more control of their energy use.

Our proposals for the Cottam Solar Project involve around 2,800 acres (1,150 hectares) of land which could host solar panels and associated infrastructure. This is dispersed over three sites.

At this early stage of our proposals, we haven’t yet confirmed how the solar panels and associated infrastructure will be configured across these sites. These details will be confirmed through ongoing technical work and informed by consultation with local communities.

Using this land for solar could generate 600 MW of renewable energy. That’s enough to power 180,000 homes.

There is a clear need for renewable, affordable and reliable energy in the UK. Our commitments to net zero, and the associated closure of all UK coal fired power stations by 2024, means that we need to increase our supply of low carbon electricity.

Developing large-scale solar projects will help keep the lights on, without carbon emissions, and at a low cost to consumers.

Solar technologies complement the UK’s growing supply of renewable energy generated through wind power. Together, this diversification of renewable energy generation will support a reliable supply throughout the year.

Although a significant project, the Cottam Solar Project only replaces around 30% of the former generation capacity of the coal powered Cottam Power Station. This means there is still a need for further renewable energy generation in the region.

We recognise there are a number of proposals being brought forward at the moment. We are in close contact with other developers to understand their proposals and explore opportunities for coordination and cooperation. This may help us to achieve efficiencies and reduce potential cumulative impacts to local communities.

The decommissioning of the Cottam and West Burton coal fired power stations presents an opportunity to utilise existing grid connection infrastructure. This reduces the potential new impacts of a solar project, and we have secured an agreement with National Grid for this.

Our team has undertaken an extensive process of site selection to identify areas of land in proximity to the grid connection point at the existing power station site. We believe the use of several separate land parcels reduces the impact on the local area in comparison to fewer larger sites.

Our team has identified sites suitable for solar energy generation, and has considered a range of environmental factors such as the existing use and quality of the land, potential environmental or heritage designations, and the visibility of the site from local areas. The use of all of our sites has been agreed with relevant landowners.

We recognise that there are trade-offs in the site selection process, and that local communities and residents will have comments on this. We are committed to consulting with communities on our proposals and exploring further mitigation where appropriate.

We will be undertaking multiple phases of consultation with the local community and stakeholders on our proposals. We recently launched the first phase of this, which includes posting information to local properties and holding events in the local area.

Our first phase of consultation is an opportunity for us to introduce our proposals at an early stage and understand community feedback on this. We want to hear about any key issues communities would like us to consider and opportunities for us to explore through our design development.

Feedback will help us to refine our proposals. We will then undertake a further round of consultation next year, where we will be able to share more detail on our design, including environmental information and how we have responded to the first phase of consultation.

Our communications channels are open and we encourage anyone interested in our proposals to get in touch with any questions they may have. You can provide your feedback on our digital engagement platform available via this website, or by returning a completed feedback form to FREEPOST: CAWB Solar Projects. You will not need a stamp.

The panels are made primarily from glass, aluminium, and silicon. The type of silicon can be either monocrystalline or polycrystalline. The raw materials for both are the same although the processing of the materials is different when manufacturing the panel.

The wires that connect the panels are copper and there are small amounts of silver and solder used within the panel to connect the individual cells together. All panels are made of these same materials and so there is no difference in the decommissioning and recycling process.

Due to the long panel life, the need for recycling of panels has been very limited so far. Recycling companies currently remove the aluminium frames and copper wiring for recycling and then shred the remainder of the panel with the resultant product being considered to be impure crushed glass as the other materials makes up a low proportion of the panel’s weight. Recent improvements in recycling mean that over 95% of the individual materials in the crushed glass can then be separated out for reuse.

Other panel types such as ‘thin film’ panels are not used for ground mounted solar farms. There are no issues, such as toxicity, which prevent the safe recycling of ground mounted solar panels.

Panels are normally mounted on steel piles which are either driven or screwed into the ground depending on the type of frame used. In some locations the mounting structures need to take account of underground archaeology. The most common solutions are to either design the site to avoid putting panels on the area of archaeology completely, or where the archaeology is less sensitive, the frames are mounted on concrete bases (sometimes called feet or shoes). The concrete bases sit on top of the ground so as not to disturb anything below ground which also makes them easy to remove when decommissioning the site.

IGP have identified the site areas for each project as being suitable for the Cottam Solar Project to generate 600MW and the West Burton Solar Project to generate 480MW. The generation capacity of the sites is part of the grid connection agreement that has been signed with National Grid. We are still working to refine our proposals for the exact number and layout of panels and location of energy storage for each project. More detailed information on the layout of each site area, including the positioning of the substations and energy storage, will be made available and consulted on with the local community as part of the phase two consultation next year before the final proposals are submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

The Development Consent Order (DCO) would only grant consent for IGP to construct and operate within the area that is proposed, and generate up to the 600MW and 480MW capacities agreed with National Grid. IGP therefore do not intend to, and for planning and grid reasons could not, expand the Cottam and West Burton Solar Projects. Any future development would be subject to its own separate planning application and consultation process.

The Environmental Impact Assessment will assess all potential flooding impact on a site by site basis. Panels are supported by frames placed into the ground so water can easily flow underneath the panels. The frames do not have a large surface area, and so water can be absorbed by the ground underneath the panels. Swales can also be designed into the site to minimize the risk of flooding. i.e. shallow, broad and vegetated channels designed to store and/or convey runoff and remove pollutants. Solar Panels can be placed into flood zones which flood with a water level up to 1 meter and operate as normal, making them an appropriate development for these areas.

As we are still in the early stages of our proposals many of our decisions about suppliers are yet to be made. We are currently working to create a robust supply chain plan that will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate and independently assessed and examined as part of our planning application. Island Green Power have signed up to Solar Energy UK’s commitments to ‘condemn and oppose any abuse of human rights including forced labour anywhere in the global solar supply chain.’

You can view the Solar Energy UK commitments and the list of signatories here.