Norwegian state-owned company submits plans for massive solar farm near Allerthorpe Golf and Country Park

More than 350 acres, near Allerthorpe Golf and Country Park, would be taken up by tens of thousands of solar panels as well as the battery energy storage system.

The developer, Statkraft UK, which is 100 per cent owned by the Norwegian state, is Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy. Energy from the farm, between Thornton and Allerthorpe Common, will be fed into the National Grid via the nearby Thornton substation.

National Grid says battery storage will play an increasingly pivotal role as fossil fuels are phased out. It aims to manage peaks and troughs in supply and demand when intermittent renewables become an even larger part of the energy mix, cutting the risk of shortages and blackouts.

The amount of electricity generated by sunlight peaks around midday, but demand peaks in the evening, which is after sunset for much of the year.

Documents submitted as part of the planning application, state: “A particular area National Grid have identified as requiring these services is in East Yorkshire. ”

They add: “The Soay Greener Grid Park is designed to support the flexible operation of the National Grid and the decarbonisation of the electricity supply.

“The proposed Greener Grid Park would provide rapid-response electrical back-up and energy management and would also represent an early deployment within the UK of a high-tech grid balancing facility, addressing intermittency and fluctuations in inertia.”

Claire Triffitt, clerk to Thornton parish council, which has just 110 people on the electoral roll, said the general consensus was that the scheme was “inevitable” given the Government’s push on renewables.

She hopes the developer will do something for the village in return for the inconvenience, adding: “I just think it is coming whether we welcome it or not. Someone has to have it at the end of the day.”

Chairman of Allerthorpe parish council Laura Brennan said they were “exhausted” after their six-year ultimately unsuccessful battle against plans for the caravan park at Allerthorpe and didn’t feel they “stand a chance” against the latest plans. She said: “It doesn’t matter if I think it’s the worst thing in the world - it will go through. We are just going to have to learn to live with it.”

The farm, with an operational life of 37 years, will have an output of up to 49.9MW, on par with the 50MW Scurf Dyke farm at Hutton Cranswick. There’s also a 30MW farm at Skerne, and an 11,000 panel farm is being built at Cottingham to supply Castle Hill Hospital.