Of course.  JBM work hard to engage with the community, from the presentation and discussion of project plans to ensuring opportunities to provide detailed feedback on proposals.  JBM regularly partner with local wildlife groups and welcome school visits.

At our consultation, we indicated there would be a £600,000 community fund made available to local parish councils at the start of construction.

We can now confirm this will increase to £220/MW over 40 years of the project. This would mean an annual payment of £39,600 for 40 years, totalling £1,584,000.

It is important to us that we have an open dialogue over the management of the community benefit fund and potential areas where we can contribute positively to the community, and are in ongoing discussions with the local parish councils.

We will endeavour to find local firms and supplier for construction activity on site as well as well as civil engineering works for the solar farm.  Other opportunities for local suppliers relate to contractors for aggregates, landscaping supplies, haulage as well as plant hire.  Construction staff are also likely to use local accommodation and shops / restaurants.  Once operational the solar farm does not require any permanent staff, however there will be a need for ongoing monitoring, cleaning, landscape maintenance and general maintenance over the course of the year.

Definitely. According to Government surveys, solar is the most popular energy source.   Data in 2021 showed that 90% of the public supported it.  When asked about a solar farm being built in their local area, 81% of respondents in 2022 said they weren’t opposed.  Only 3% significantly opposed, while 8% felt that a solar farm wouldn’t be feasible locally.

Absolutely.  Solar works well everywhere in the UK. Solar panels don’t need direct sunlight to operate and produce power all year round, accounting for about 4% of national consumption.  In the middle of a sunny day, they can produce over a quarter of the UK’s power.

Not at all.  Solar provides one of the cheapest sources of energy in the UK, far cheaper than gas or nuclear.  The energy price crisis has made the case for solar even stronger.

PV panels are installed in rows on the land.  Electrical converters take the DC power which is generated by the PV panels and convert this to AC power – the standard form of electricity for the National Grid.  The power is then stepped up to the required voltage and distributed to the grid.

A generation meter records the amount of electricity generated and supplied to the grid.  The owner of the facility is then paid for the power generated. In return for leasing land, the landowner shares in this revenue through an attractive rental income.  This amount is established at the outset of our agreement with a long-term lease and protected from inflation for 30-40 years.

The lifespan of PV panels is 40 years. For this reason, our standard lease term is 40 years.  We typically look for options to extend this for another five years (subject to a new planning application), although any extension is up to the landowner.

This depends on the size of the installation. A typical build time for a smaller project than Byers Gill is around six months.

Absolutely, we work closely with communities to ensure that our solar farms blend in and restore traditional meadows and hedgerows to the countryside. The maximum height of our solar panels are three metres, which is the equivalent of a well-maintained hedgerow.

Barely any.  Glint and glare are not a problem.  Solar panels are designed to absorb light. The more light a panel absorbs, the more power it will generate.

As the cheapest form of energy, as well as being clean renewable energy, a fivefold increase in solar capacity is anticipated by 2050 in the Government’s Energy Security Strategy 2022.  This cannot be achieved through rooftop and brownfield solar installations alone, as they have considerable practical barriers of their own.  Many domestic and industrial buildings either do not have roofs made of suitable material to support a solar system, do not have the infrastructure to export electricity to the gird, or simply present as an unaffordable solution, with initial costs of installation too high for some. As a result, agricultural land typically of moderate or low quality is used, without impacting on food security.

No. Solar farms provide valuable income for farmers, they can still be used for grazing, and can support UK farmers to continue food production on other parts of their land.  Some developers consider growing produce under or alongside solar panels.

For more information, please view our video on this topic:

Very little. Even under 2050 Net Zero targets, Solar farms would occupy 0.5% of the UK’s land – much less that what is currently used by golf courses.

The only items which generate noise are the inverters and batteries, which are typically in the centre of the site and away from houses. We also include a full noise assessment as part of our Environmental Statement submitted with the DCO application .

We aim to access sites and manage all traffic in such a way that it will have a minimum impact on surrounding communities.

Yes, we will put up a deer fence around the site in order to keep it secure, which is a planning requirement. The fencing will include gates that will allow small mammals to pass through.

Certainly.  Solar farms provide benefits such as improving local biodiversity by supporting new and existing plant and animal life.  We do our research on the site to understand the wildlife that is present and change our proposals to best support the environment.

JBM commit to a minimum of 50% biodiversity net gain on each site, but our our average biodiversity net gain across all of our sites sits at over 100% habitat (over 10 times the policy requirement) and 42% for hedgerows (over 4 times the policy requirement). This is due to the considerable amount of new habitats that are created as part of each development.

By diversifying away from fossil fuel energy, solar energy can provide a reliable and secure source of domestic renewable energy, which is significantly cheaper to the consumer than traditional fossil fuel generated electricity, whilst also reducing our carbon emissions and tackling climate change.

Secondly solar energy represents income diversification that helps keep farmers in business, allowing them to continue to invest locally, employ locally and farm in a sustainable manner.

No. Solar projects save vast amounts of carbon emissions over their lifetime. Research shows their carbon payback time is 1-4 years and thay they generate a hundred times more energy than it takes to make them over a 40-year warranty period.

Certainly. Up to 99% of materials in a solar panel are recyclable. All of which can be extracted, separated, recycled or reused. Solar panels are built to last and can function for decades.

Solar farms provide valuable income for farmers, ensuring they have financial security through difficult times, ensuring long term food production on farms which may not otherwise be able to operate. Likewise, with ongoing pastoral farming undisturbed, food continues to be produced for the UK market, ensuring food security in the UK.

JBM was founded in 2012 by Brendan O’Brien and David Cramer in the UK.  To find out more about JBM please visit our website here.

JBM operate across the UK developing solar farms and battery energy storage systems

JBM Solar is a part of RWE, the UK’s leading power generator and a major player in the development, construction and operation of renewable energies, and decarbonisation projects. We are combining our own industry-leading expertise and knowledge of Solar and co-located battery development with RWE’s significant prowess in building and operating power generation projects that provide enough electricity to power more than 14 million UK homes.

Please check our careers page to see what vacancies are available here.