UK households could collectively face an annual loss of up to £5 billion if a proposed law blocking large-scale solar farms on productive agricultural land is enacted, according to energy analysts. This legislation, presented as an amendment to the Energy Bill, aims to prohibit projects exceeding 500 acres in size when at least 20 percent of the land is categorized as “best and most versatile agricultural land.”
If approved, this change could cost each UK household up to £180 per year due to the need for more expensive gas-generated electricity, as estimated by analysts from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
The amendment has been introduced by Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP representing Rutland and Melton in the East Midlands, who opposes the construction of a large solar farm in her constituency. Kearns argues that the 1,144-acre solar plant is too extensive for her county and raises concerns about its potential links to forced labor in Xinjiang, China, involving Uighur Muslims.
Critics argue that such concerns are unfounded, emphasizing that new solar farms would only require a small fraction of available farmland, posing minimal risk to food security while significantly enhancing the UK’s energy security.
The UK government has set an ambitious goal of achieving 70GW of solar capacity by 2035. ECIU experts estimate that a substantial portion of this capacity, between 23GW and 38GW, will need to come from ground-based infrastructure, depending on rooftop additions. However, they believe that buildings can only accommodate up to 22GW of additional capacity on top of the existing 12.7GW of total solar capacity.
Tom Lancaster, a land analyst at ECIU, emphasized the cost-effectiveness of solar energy and expressed concerns about creating barriers to its expansion, which would increase dependence on imported gas.
The ECIU estimates that nearly 173,000 acres of land will be necessary to meet the solar target, equivalent to 0.7 percent of English farmland. If the Energy Bill amendment is approved, it could render millions of acres unsuitable for solar farm development.
MPs have yet to debate and vote on these proposed amendments, which are part of a larger set of suggestions with uncertain outcomes.
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero emphasized the importance of solar energy in achieving energy independence, noting that renewables accounted for over 40 percent of UK electricity generation last year, rising to nearly 48 percent in the first quarter of this year. The department continues to support the deployment of solar panels on brownfield sites and low to medium-grade agricultural land, as well as rooftop solar panels, in pursuit of the 70GW solar capacity goal by 2035.