Nathan Ley, County Councillor for Abingdon North said he understands why some people suggest using rooftops first before turning to fields for solar panels.
“It is a fairness instinct, and fairness instincts are usually worth listening to,” Mr Ley said.
But he added that “The problem is that this one does not survive contact with a calculator.”
He argued that Britain passed two million solar installations this March, two thirds on rooftops, and that everything Britain has managed to put on its roofs adds up to roughly 6.8GW of power.
In contrast, a large solar farm, such as Botley West, provides 840MW, approximately an eighth of the total power from all rooftop installations combined.
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Councillor Nathan Ley (Image: Oxford Mail)
Mr Ley said: “To replace Botley West and the proposed Cearn scheme in the Vale with rooftop generation, you would need panels on something like 235,000 homes. There are roughly 300,000 households in the whole of Oxfordshire.”
He added: “Cover every shed in the country and you are between a fifth and a third of the way there.”
He also noted that only 5 per cent of warehouse roofs currently have solar panels, despite the financial benefits.
Using Oxford City Council’s figures, he noted that solar canopies over park and ride sites cost between £900 to £1,400 per kilowatt installed, compared to about £450 for field-mounted solar.
His public backing comes months after Calum Miller, Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock, wrote to former energy secretary Ed Miliband, calling on the UK Government to reject the application, arguing the case for the scheme is still “full of holes”.
Solar farm panel (Image: Pixabay)
While Mr Miller “strongly supports the rapid expansion of renewable energy” he insisted this “does not mean accepting every proposal, whatever its scale, location or impact”.
He says the developer Photovolt Development Partners (PVDP) has failed to address serious concerns over the impact of the project, which covers around 1,000 hectares across three main areas north of Woodstock, west of Kidlington and west of Botley.
Multiple councillors have also spoken out about the planned Cearn Solar Farm, a new project that would cover land south of Garford, east of Charney Bassett, north of West Hanney, south of Goosey and north east of Baulking.
Ron Batstone said he is “worried” about the impact of the project, while Jill Rayner and James Plumb both said that it was vital residents’ views are heard.
The solar project would cover a greater amount of Oxfordshire’s land than Botley West’s 2,471 acres of solar panels.
It would dwarf Gatwick Airport and be only about 200 acres smaller than Heathrow, one of the busiest in the world, while having a grid connection offer of up to 500 megawatts, enough to power the equivalent of up to 143,000 homes annually.
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