Cornish farmland should be for food production and carbon capture, not solar power, says a Cornish countryside charity.

Cornwall CPRE has hit out at a series of proposals to build large solar farms on agricultural land in the county.

It says that almost 900 acres of farmland, which play a valuable role in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, could be taken out of food production if development proposals go ahead for four solar farms.

The proposals are currently under consultation.

Cornwall CPRE Chairman Richard Stubbs said: “All these proposals are for industrial-sized solar arrays in open countryside, protected by steel fencing and security cameras.

"Their technical maximum performance bears little relation to their actual output.

"Their construction is being driven almost entirely by subsidies from national government; little or no benefit is returned to the local economy.

"In fact, in the case of two of the latest proposals in Cornwall, the profits will go straight back to the Norwegian government.”

The proposals are:

  • Tregonning Solar Farm, with the developer Armstrong Capital Management which proposes a 49.9 MWh solar array of panels on 220 acres at Tregonning Farm, located to the north of the A3058 and south of Coswarth, near Quintrell Downs.
  • White Cross Solar Farm, with the developer Statkraft (on behalf of the Norwegian government) which is proposing a solar project of 49.9MWh with an 18MW battery on this 180-acre site, located between White Cross and St Columb Road, south of the A392 road.
  • Treviscoe Solar Farm, with developer Statkraft (on behalf of the Norwegian government), which proposes a solar project of 34.1MWh with an 18MW battery on the 120-acre site, situated west of St Dennis and north of Central Treviscoe on fields between Treviscoe and the B3279
  • Trevarthian Solar Farm, with developer Trevarthian Renewables Limited, which was set up by Lord St Levan and Felix John St Auby. The proposal says that output could be 52,800 MWh from a large-scale solar PV farm that would require 349 acres of land at Trevarthian Farm, Plain An Gwarry, Marazion

Cornwall CPRE’s campaign is being launched following Cornwall Council’s refusal last year to grant permission for a solar farm at Tregorrick near St Austell, an application opposed by Cornwall CPRE.

At the time, Richard Stubbs said: “All credit to the councillors who gave just recognition to the value of Cornwall’s precious landscapes by refusing a wholly inappropriate industrial development slap bang in the middle of open countryside.

"Cornwall CPRE welcomes this decision, which we believe creates a precedent for similar applications to build solar farms on productive farmland.

“The issue here is not renewable energy. This was the wrong location for a solar farm.

"Why waste high-grade farmland that could be used to produce food?

"In the long term, it’s far more sustainable to increase our self-sufficiency in food production and reduce unnecessary food miles that create CO2 emissions.

"There are plenty of brownfield sites and industrial areas in Cornwall where ground or roof-mounted solar panels could be installed.”