Work to build a 43,000 panel solar farm is to begin in November, after a contract was signed with a carbon-neutral developer. The farm will power 9,400 homes, and will be built on farmland to the south of Barkham, Berkshire, owned by Wokingham Borough Council. The facility is expected to go live and start generating electricity in September 2027, with full connectivity expected by 2029.
Imogen Shepherd-DuBey, the council's executive member for finance and governance, said signing the contract with Equans was an "important step forward for the council". She said the the project would also "bring new walking and cycling links, increased biodiversity and hundreds of new trees, creating a lasting legacy for local communities". The farm is also set to generate more than £1m income for the council every year, according to the authority.
The authority has worked with local charity Freely Fruity to plant about 1,000 fruit trees on the site. In January, the council said it expected the farm to be built 10 years ahead of schedule. In 2021, a tenant cattle farmer who worked on the land was told to leave to make way for the solar farm.
Andrew Lake rented High Barn Farm from the council and kept 360 cows at the site. The authority previously said the land would be returned to agricultural use after 25 years, at the end of the farm's lifecycle.
Source: BBC
