Today we have provided advance notice of our upcoming stage of consultation, which will run from Wednesday 29 January to Wednesday 19 March 2025, with information events expected in February. This consultation will focus on more detailed proposals for Lime Down Solar Park, which we have continued to refine using your feedback and findings from ongoing environmental work.
Welcome
Island Green Power is developing proposals to build a new solar and battery energy storage project along with the infrastructure needed to export the electricity it generates onto the national grid.
Lime Down is proposed as being built on land near Malmesbury in North Wiltshire. The electricity generated by the proposed solar park would be exported via an underground cable connection into the existing national electricity transmission system at Melksham substation.
The project is anticipated as being able to deliver up to 500 megawatts (MW) of renewable electricity through ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV panels). This is enough clean, affordable electricity to power approximately 115,000 homes every year.
The UK has set ambitious climate change targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to ensure that the energy supply remains secure, reliable, and affordable. Together with legally binding commitments such as these, the UK Government has further set out how the deployment of renewable technologies such as solar will be accelerated in the latest plan Powering Up Britain (April 2023). Lime Down could make a vital contribution to achieving these targets by ensuring the supply of clean, affordable electricity to UK consumers when it’s needed.
The amount of electricity Lime Down Solar Park could generate exceeds 50MW. It is therefore classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). The development consenting regime for a NSIP comes under the Planning Act 2008. This means to get permission to build and operate the solar park we need to apply to the Planning Inspectorate for a Development Consent Order (DCO). We anticipate submitting our application to the Planning Inspectorate in Autumn 2025.
Where we are now
On Tuesday 17 December 2024, we provided advance notice of our upcoming statutory consultation period, to be held for seven weeks from Wednesday 29 January to Wednesday 19 March 2025.
Since holding an initial stage of consultation in March 2024, we have continued to shape and refine our proposals in light of feedback we received during that consultation, along with the findings from our ongoing survey and environmental work.
During this second (statutory) stage of consultation, our aim is to give local communities and people with an interest in the project the opportunity to find out more and provide feedback on our more detailed proposals. We expect to hold in-person and online information events throughout February 2025.
To read more about what to expect for our consultation in the New Year, please click HERE to read our latest project update.
To be updated directly as further information about the future consultation and project becomes available, please register your details with us HERE.
