Royal plan for solar panel farm at Sandringham praised
King Charles is again setting a fine example in the battle against climate change. Midlands green energy expert Ron Fox was commenting on the plan to install 2,000 solar panels on his 20,000-acre Sandringham estate.
The King submitted planning documents to King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Council last month for a proposed solar panel farm to make his home almost self-sufficient with a supply of 1.9 megawatts of green electricity.
“This move,” said Ron, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science Innovation Park (www.noreus.co.uk), “is a huge endorsement of the potential of solar power in the UK and will encourage a lot more people to look at the benefits of solar power, which last year provided 4.7 per cent of the UK’s electricity nationally.”
The scheme, which comes after solar panels were placed on the roof of Sandringham House two years ago, would enable the King to meet the majority of the estate’s electricity demand with a small amount of spare capacity being exported to the National Grid.
The panels would be erected on a horse paddock down the road from a sawmill and across from an area of woodland beyond which lies Dersingham, a village of about 5,000. The farm would be built with a battery storage unit to help with the intermittent nature of the sun’s energy.
The project, which will mainly supply Sandringham House, the Visitor Centre and the Sawmill with electricity, is designed to last for 40 years, with the two hectares of a paddock then being returned to horse grazing.
The solar panels will be made from toughened glass and mounted on a steel framework set at an angle of 25 degrees and facing south with the highest part of the panel being no higher than 3.1 metres.
Addressing the open ceremony of the World Climate Action Summit (Cop28) in Dubai last November, Charles said reducing carbon emissions was “a job for us all.”
“He is certainly putting that into practice and leading by example,” said Ron.
More than 170,000 homes had solar panels installed last year, the highest level since 2015 when subsidies were cut by the Conservative government.
Those projects were much smaller than the King’s plan for thousands of panels, but even the royal plan is dwarfed by the government’s proposals for 26 huge solar plans in the pipeline, including a 840 megawatt solar scheme at the Blenheim estate in Oxfordshire.
Several of the schemes are taking advantage of electricity grid connections being opened up by the closure of old coal power stations with the UK’s last coal power plant due to close in September this year.
“The King is showing once again that he is a real champion for climate action with his solar panel farm scheme,” concluded Ron.
If you want any advice about solar panels, contact Ron on 01782 756995 or go to www.noreus.co.uk
Caption: Planning to go green – the royal estate of Sandringham.
