From Alan Thornett’s Ecosocialist Discussion website
The Tories have been routed — which is excellent news for the whole of humanity. The new Keir Starmer government, however, is not only wracked by sleaze but on key issues such as immigration they have continued the historic consensus that has existed with the Tories for a very long time — which is that migration is a bad thing and the more people we can deport the better. Much more could be said about this.
It would be a big mistake, however, on the basis of this, to ignore those of Starmer’s ecological pledges that remain intact — which is most of them— particularly on energy transition, which forms the main basis of Labour’s energy policy.
Decarbonising the National Grid by 2030 remains one of the most ambitious ecological pledges worldwide. His refusal to issue new licences for North Sea oil and gas development remains intact, in fact it has hardened rather than softened. He has withdrawn legal defence from the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields as well as the new coal mine in Cumbria, which is now being abandoned. GB Energy should be supported, but we should demand far more public money is made available to it. The ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars after 2030 remains in place, and the defacto ban on on-shore wind has been lifted.
Ed Miliband was appointed as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, and has hit the ground running. He has already been labelled both as an eco-extremist and as a ‘net zero nut-job’ by the right-wing Tory media. Nine new offshore wind-farms were among the projects agreed at Labour’s first renewable energy auction — which is good news.
Labour policy, of course, includes nuclear power – but it is now so prohibitively expensive, and the build times so ridiculously long, that it is not a practical option. And why is research on carbon capture and storage, which does not work at a scale remotely useful to face climate change, is one of the few things Rachel Reeves can find to say in her conference speech about the climate emergency?
The falling price of renewables
Research by Our World in Data shows that the cost of solar panels has dropped by 90 per cent in the last decade. Onshore wind has also fallen by 70 per cent, and solar batteries by more than 90 per cent. It is also the most versatile and easy to maintain of all the technologies available. We are witnessing what is increasingly referred to as the Dawn of the Solar Age.
Ed Miliband understands this since within days of his ministerial appointment he approved three large solar farms in the East Midlands – with a joint capacity of 1350 megawatts. These were destined to spend a long-time in the long grass while the Tories were in office — and turning increasingly climate-sceptic. They are now fully embraced by incoming Labour.
The projects concerned are the Mallard Pass Solar Farm in Rutland and into Lincolnshire, the Gate Burton Solar Farm in Lincolnshire — south of Gainsborough — and the Sunnica Solar Energy Park in Suffolk. They are all very big and capable (jointly) of supplying over 400,000 homes — equivalent to a city the size of Birmingham. The private investors had been smelling the coffee.
They landed on Miliband’s desk because under government rules new solar farm proposals over 50 megawatts need the approval of the Secretary of State to go to the final stages – and Miliband gave this with great enthusiasm. It will come back to him for the final sign-off. Local authority planning is important, but national priorities must prevail at a time of national emergency. (The government aims to achieve 70 gigawatts of solar power by 2035).
When announcing his approval Miliband said the following:
“Solar power is crucial to achieving net zero and providing an abundant source of cleaner, cheaper energy on the mission my desk on Monday, and I have made a decision in three days. This is the speed we are working at to achieve energy independence, cut bills for families and kick-start green economic growth.”
In a sign of what is to come the objectors were furious. The Tory MP for Rutland and Stamford Alicia Kearns, a supporter of the Stop the Mallards Pass Campaign, wrote to them as follows:
“This shows complete disregard for community consent, contempt for human rights, and a complete failure to understand that food security is a national security issue… Mallard Pass still needs to deliver a number of reports and plans before they can get building, and I plan to hold them to account on every single one and ensure they cannot proceed unless they deliver them…”
On the Cambridgeshire County Council all parties (mainly Tories and Lib Dems) joined together to oppose the Sunnica scheme. Martin Hill, the Tory Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, stressed: “Be in no doubt that these are huge-scale developments that will change our county’s landscapes dramatically.
China dominates the market
Miliband’s attitude to solar power reflects the special edition of the Economist on June 22 (2024) entitled “The Dawn of the Solar Age”. An article on page 45 says the following:
“Solar cells will in all likelihood be the single biggest source of electrical power on the planet by the mid 2030s… On current trends the all-in cost of the electricity they produce promises to be less than half as expensive as the cheapest available today… Much of the world—including Africa, where 600m people still cannot light their homes—will begin to feel energy-rich. That feeling will be a new and transformational one for humankind.
“Making cells also takes energy, but solar power is fast making that abundant, too. As for demand, it is both huge and elastic — if you make electricity cheaper, people will find uses for it. The result is that, in contrast to earlier energy sources, solar power has routinely become cheaper and will continue to do so.”
According to the website eco-experts China dominates the solar market with a total capacity of 2,919 gigawatts. It would be better to manufacture the panels locally but it is a mammoth task to compete with China at this stage of the game.
Eco-experts tell us that:
“Solar power is gradually taking over the energy industry, with global capacity growing to about one and a half terawatts at the end of 2023. Part of this growth is undoubtedly due to the price solar panel dropping by 82% since 2010. By 2025, solar capacity worldwide is expected to reach around 2.3 terawatts — some way off the 432 terawatts needed to provide all of Earth’s electricity needs, but progress nonetheless.
The “Botley West” Solar Farm
Meanwhile a major landowner in rural Oxfordshire, Blenheim Palace (no less), was also smelling the coffee. They are proposing the biggest solar farm in Britain, at 840 megawatts. It would be called the Botley West Solar Farm. It has just completed its second of three public consultations, and is expected to be seeking governmental approval sometime next year.
It was first mooted in November 2022 and like the East Midland projects, its chances of adoption have been transformed by the advent of a Labour government. With a capacity of 840 megawatts it is bigger than the individual East Midlands projects, but with their combined capacity it is in the same the same ball park: i.e. massive by UK standards.
It is to be built on land ninety-five per cent owned by Blenheim Palace, and currently leased out, mostly to farmers. Thirty-eight per cent of the land is defined as the “best and most versatile agricultural land”, and seventy-five per cent is green belt. The developer is the Photovolt Development Partners (PVDP) a German company, which specialises in such projects, particularly in the UK.
The plan is to install 2.5 million photovoltaic solar panels across three sites covering an 11-mile long and four-miles wide stretch of the county. It will use between two and three per cent of Oxfordshire’s Green Belt, and about half of one percent of its total land area. Building on Green Belt land requires “exceptional circumstances”, which in this case are providing cheap electricity to large numbers of people and saving the planet from destruction.
A map of the three sites can be found here. They are called unsurprisingly: North, Middle, and South. The North site is North of Woodstock, the Middle site is West of Kidlington, and the smaller South site is West of Oxford. Its connection with the National Grid, already agreed in principle, will be at a new high voltage substation to be built near Farmoor Reservoir to the west of Botley — hence the name — and about five miles from Oxford.
If completed as planned Botley West will be capable of supplying electricity to 330,000 UK households — which is equal to the whole of Oxfordshire, or a major city such as Leeds. As with the East Midlands projects, it takes on a completely different significance with a Labour in office and Miliband the minister concerned.
Local authorities
The local authority most effected — termed the ‘host authority’ — is the West Oxfordshire District Council. It is a coalition between the Lib Dems with 21 councillors, Labour with 11, and the Greens with 4. Its leader is Andy Graham who is a Lib Dem. It will be closely involved in the final decision but will not make it. Its latest response to the application, dated Feb 2024, can be found here.
Whilst it does not have the vitriol of the East Midlands debate, it still sits firmly on the fence. It is clearly written for a project which is in indefinite limbo. If and when the scheme gets approval a much more specific document will be needed which takes a position on the proposal. The other local authorities involved more marginally are the Cherwell District Council and the Vale of White Horse. Both of which are Lib Dem led
The developer’s pitch
The developers (Photovolt Development Partners) claim in their sales pitch that:
“Our solar farms are designed to yield a significant increase in biodiversity against current levels on site. Areas under and around the panels develop vegetation that is fit for grazing by sheep or can be cut for compost. At low intensity, livestock grazing can contribute to land conservation. Bare areas are seeded or planted quickly to prevent weeds from colonising”. “A variety of mitigation measures are implemented to reduce any visual impact, to create biodiverse buffer zones and to minimise the impact of the arrays, including:
- planting of new woodland belts
- reinforcement of existing field boundary hedgerows and planting of new hedgerows
- reduction in the frequency and severity of hedge-cutting
- cultivation of grassland on the perimeter of the installation areas. Fine grasses are used as this encourages colonisation by wild herbs
- tree planting where appropriate
- planting of wildflower meadows which are proven to deliver higher biodiversity than pasture
All cables are buried and the land is professionally managed, ensuring continual biodiversity gain. At Botley West areas within panel array fields are left clear for skylark nesting plots.”
Lumfly Energy, which advises renewable energy investors, says the following about what’s on offer.
“Many landowners are looking to diversify their income streams with renewable energy projects. And, as the average Return on Investment (ROI) for a solar farm is between 10% and 20%, these projects usually pay for themselves within 5 to 10 years. This might seem like a long time to wait for a profitable project, but ROI is more of a developer’s concern than a landowner’s, as most commercial-scale solar projects are built and financed by a developer; landowners typically opt for payment arrangements that offer a fixed income across the project’s lifetime.”
In other words, it is a very good investment for landowners at a time of crisis in the farming industry.
The objectors
There are numerous campaigns against Botley West. Most of them are Tory-inspired and politically nimbi. The most significant is the Stop Botey West Campaign.
They claim that Botley West is far too big, in the wrong place, takes up good agricultural land, and ignores food security. It has the support of numerous Tory and Lib Dem councillors, and its financial donations include one big enough to hire a Westminster lobbyist. They also have the support of the two Westminster MPs involved: Callum Millar MP for the new Bicester and Woodstock constituency, and Layla Moran MP for Oxford West and Abingdon. They are both Lib Dems.
One of its objectives is at least to reduce the size of the farms involved as a compromise. This is unacceptable. We need big solar farms if we are to solve the energy crisis.
The Guardian of June 7th 2024 carries an article – headed ironically ‘It’s Just Too Big’ – which takes a look at some of the right-wing forces involved:
“Large-scale solar farms have become the latest net zero technology to be bogged down by local disputes and polarising debates across the country. A growing coalition of grassroots groups argue that the ballooning pipeline of solar developments would “armour-plate” the countryside, destroy good farmland and threaten food security. Instead, they want to see solar “in the right places”, on rooftops and brownfield sites”. (Everyone wants that, of course, but it won’t be enough)
It says that such claims:
“are also being promoted by the UK Solar Alliance, a coalition of 124 groups opposing about 9GW worth of large-scale solar plans, as part of a toolkit of resources for local campaigns. The document was compiled by the alliance’s former chair Michael Alder, who recently joined the academic advisory council of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), the UK’s most prominent climate sceptic thinktank, which has repeatedly attacked renewable energy and net zero policies.”
Alder told the Guardian he was “not a climate change denier” but had just accepted an invitation to “give independent views on academic papers”.
Pull the other one springs to mind.
The Green Party
The West Oxford Green Party, the branch most effected , have not reached a final decision — probably because they haven’t yet had to. Their latest leaflet, however, recognises the importance of solar energy in terms of the energy transition, but still thinks that Botley West might be too big.
They also recommend, however, an excellent article by Chris Goodall, a writer on ecological matters and the Green Party candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon in the recent general election. It can be found here. His most recent book (just out), called Possible Ways to Net Zero, is very useful in this regard.
He is particularly clear on biodiversity:
“Intensely farmed agricultural land (he tells us) has truly awful levels of biodiversity. Large, over-cultivated fields with few hedgerows are always terrible for nature. Unfortunately, much of the land that Botley West will use has been farmed excessively and will benefit from a switch to hosting solar panels; ploughing will stop as will the use of fertilisers and pesticides.”
Converting ploughed fields to solar, he says:
“helps rebuild natural life particularly if plant life is encouraged around the panels. In addition, the developer promises wide buffer spaces around the individual fields, some woodland planting and biodiversity corridors. Properly done, nature can thrive around solar farms in a way that is not possible in intensive arable landscapes. The experience from around the UK and elsewhere is that solar PV can provide a major lift to the quality of the local natural world.”
On the alternative, of growing wheat, he says the following:
“If all this area produced wheat, and the land was as productive as the UK average, farmers would get approximately 12,000 tonnes of wheat off this area, with a value of about £2.8m at today’s prices. The value of electricity produced, which will reduce the need to import gas and oil, is approximately 16 times as much… Perhaps as importantly, average quality agricultural land – such as the area reserved for Botley West — does not produce wheat every year. It is more likely that the fields would only produce wheat once every three years and, of course, that this crop would generally be used to feed cows, not humans. Botley West is not going to make bread more expensive.”
Change needed cross the board
I have concentrated on decarbonising electricity grid by 2030 — which is a key target, because if that fails many other key targets will also fail. I fully accept, however, that other equally important things have to be pursued simultaneously. The retrofitting of the housing stock and the replacement of fossil fuel boilers by heat pumps has to be started now. New houses have to be built to full environmental standards from day one. The electric car revolution — which is the low hanging fruit of carbon reduction — needs to be completed as soon as possible.
Every major objective which is achieved will speed up the achievement of the next.
Conclusion
Britain is one of the least biodiverse countries in the world. We do not have the luxury to allow nimbyism to continue to block measures that are vital to the future of the planet. Consultation is important but delaying tactics are not acceptable.
Recent surveys have shown, once again, catastrophic declines in both birds and insects. It is beyond critical. It is entirely credible that biodiversity can be increase by as much as 80 per cent with the introduction of a solar farm — Chris Goodall is right about this if for example wild flower meadows — 97 per cent of which have been lost in recent years — are allowed to grow beneath the panels.
We have a newly-elected Labour government that is committed to overhauling the UK energy system and decarbonising the National Grid by 2030. To do this, however, large solar farms are crucial after a reasonable period on consultation. If this is done, for the first time, the producers of fossil energy are being outflanked by a much cheaper and more flexible technology.
It is entirely reasonable that the government takes the final decision regarding the national power infrastructure in the middle of an existential climate crisis.
Objectors who claim that the Botley West farm will industrialise the countryside are just wrong. Aerial maps used by the protesters are not the normal way the countryside is seen. Other major infrastructure projects, like the Farmoor reservoir itself for example, though huge, cannot be seen from the public road. You would not know it is there. The developer is right to claim that in most cases the panels can be hidden away, out of general view, behind well-placed trees and bushes and hedgerows.
Industrialised agriculture, in any case, is killing the planet. It responsible for about one tenth of all UK greenhouse gas emissions. It is the greatest driver of nature loss and is largely responsible for the scandal of polluted rivers. I make the point in my book Facing the Apocalypse — Arguments for Ecosocialism published in 2019 that:
“Agriculture is a massive contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, including methane from livestock, nitrous oxide from the soil, GHG from fuel for machinery, the production of vast quantities of artificial fertiliser, and the transportation of food to the market place. It is also responsible for a massive runoff from the use of mineral fertilisers to produce arable crops, for both human consumption and animal feed, therefore increasing damage to the wider environment.”
A remarkable statistic concerning food production is that annual GHG emissions (CO2 equivalents) generated by meat production for human consumption amount to 8.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalents, or 15.6 per cent of total global carbon emissions.
The issue of plant based diets has rightly come to the fore, but it’s not enough. Meat eating at anything like the current level is unsustainable.
To quote from my own book again:
“A quarter of all grain produced in the USA is used to feed cattle. Livestock consume 80 per cent of the world’s annual soy crop, and most of this is grown on cleared lands that were once tropical rain forests. This involves the use of huge quantities of mineral fertiliser and pesticides, of antibiotics to control the infections that result from confining them in too small a space, and of hormones to fatten them more and faster. Overgrazing the less productive areas of land as they become needed, leads to degradation and desertification.”
Defending solar energy is crucial for the future of the planet. It will also be a key test for Starmer’s pledge to sweep aside nimby objections which fly in the face of the changes that are necessary.
Alan Thornett (25th of September 2024)
