Two planning applications have been approved by Mendip, app numbers 2011/0781 and 2011/0688, and the details are pretty eye-watering: 2011/0781 is a 32 acre, 5 megawatt installation of 25,000 panels and 2011/0688 is a 26.4 acre site. Although the second application lacks many specifics, it is probably safe to assume that, taken together, these two installations will total approaching 50,000 panels with an output of around 10MegaWatts.
I'm a big fan of sustainability but the industrial scale of these two installations forces me to ask if the government are doing as much to encourage us to reduce consumption (and therefore energy) as they are in encouraging industrial installations like these. I'd say that government is doing damn all but we have to remember that any effort to reduce energy consumption will result in reduced economic activity. As government depends on tax revenue, any effort to reduce consumption will be resisted therefore government will encourage the carpeting of Britain with these industrial installations.
Till next time, I'm Niall Connolly
(photo montage for illustrative purposes only)