There are plans for a new solar farm equivalent to 130 football pitches on Green Belt land near Gotham.
The solar photovoltaic development would be built in fields at Church Farm in Gotham Road, Kingston-on-Soar.
The 70 hectare site – equivalent to over 170 acres – would be decommissioned at the end of its lifespan of around 40 years.
The applicant Renewable Connections Developments said the development would make “a positive contribution towards reducing carbon emissions”.
The development would generate up to 49.9 megawatts of electricity.
Using that figure, Roderick MacKenzie, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham, calculated that the farm could power around 15,000 homes.
But he said that all homes are different and the output of the solar farm would vary over time.
“This is just the beginning of a big, long trend.
“We will see an exponential rise in solar panel applications, it is a necessity.
“We’ve got to get our electricity from somewhere and wind and solar are the cheapest forms,” Mr MacKenzie said.
The fields in question, nearby the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station site, would still be retained as agricultural land if the plans go through.
A letter to Rushcliffe Borough Council on behalf of the applicant read: “The site is located within the Green Belt. The planning application will be supported by a ‘very special circumstances’ case in order to demonstrate that the benefits of the proposal outweigh any perceived harm to the Green Belt.
“The majority of the site would be planted with a combination of grassland/meadow, which would enable animal grazing. This would include land between and underneath panels.
“The Proposed Development involves the generation of renewable energy. It would make a positive contribution towards reducing carbon emissions and also contribute to supporting the local community and economy.”
The farm is “likely” to be made up of bifacial solar panels, which collect light on both sides.
Professor MacKenzie added: “It’s not like a nuclear power station, it is just some bits of metal which can be taken down. It is very low impact.
“It doesn’t pollute and it probably won’t affect wildlife too much.
“Living next to a solar farm is probably like living next to a graveyard, it would be very quiet.
“I think it’s positive for the environment and for Nottingham.”
But the professor questioned whether solar farms should be built on brownfield land instead.
A planning officer at Rushcliffe Borough Council told the applicant that the plans did not raise a requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment, meaning that they did not believe the development would have “significant effects on the environment”.
This means that the applicant can now apply to Rushcliffe Borough Council for full planning permission.
Renewable Connections Developments Ltd said that the full application could include the installation of barn owl boxes, bird nesting boxes, bee hives and log piles.
Construction would take around 24 weeks and only a “small number” of vehicles would visit the site each week.
The applicant added: “At the end of the operational lifespan (circa 40 years), the solar panels and other infrastructure would be removed, and the site restored back to full agricultural use.”
The plans come after the Prime Minister announced this year that the deadline for the closure of coal power stations would be brought forward to October 2024.
After the announcement in June 2021 that the deadline for coal power stations to close would be brought forward, Energy and Climate Change Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “Coal powered the industrial revolution 200 years ago, but now is the time for radical action to completely eliminate this dirty fuel from our energy system.
“The UK’s net zero future will be powered by renewables, and it is this technology that will drive the green industrial revolution and create new jobs across the country.”
