SOUTH OXFORDSHIRE SOLAR FARM

CLIENT
Enso Energy Limited

SECTORS
Energy

LOCATION
Oxfordshire

PLANNING AUTHORITY
South Oxfordshire Council

HIGHWAY AUTHORITY
Oxfordshire County Council

PROJECT TEAM
Aardvark EM Limited

PROJECT MANAGER
Robert Roughan

PROJECT DIRECTOR
James Darrall

PROJECT

We were appointed by Enso Energy to support a planning application for a 49.9MW solar farm and battery storage facility on land to the south of Oxford. Once operational, the solar farm will provide the equivalent annual electrical needs of approximately 19,000 family homes. The anticipated CO2 displacement is around 18,500 tonnes per annum.

APPROACH

The project is still in the pre-application phase, but a planning application is due to be submitted later in 2020. To support the planning application, We produced a Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP). This sets out information on the forecast construction vehicle trip generation, and provides a strategy to minimise the effect of construction traffic on the local highway network.

As part of the CTMP, we prepared access drawings and swept path analysis to demonstrate that safe access can be achieved. As the construction access is on a high-speed A-road, it was important to engage with the local highway authority early to agree the agree the access arrangement.

In addition, we provided a Transport and Access EIA scoping note. This successfully scoped out the requirement for a full Transport and Access ES chapter.

OUTCOME

A planning application is due to be submitted later in 2020. We agreed many aspects of the CTMP upfront, including the access junction arrangement and construction vehicle route.