Monday, 2 February 2026

More solar

 Good evening. 

I have retrieved two blog posts from the Drafts folder, and merged them into one post. More Solar Parks are planned, but Sir Dieter Helm, a Professor at Oxford University, says these won't solve our problems. 

The solar park between Dauntsey and Christian Malford will be the size of 160 football pitches - it's been approved after a government inspector overturned the local council’s refusal.

A solar park the size of 160 football pitches will be built after a government inspector granted planning consent - overturning the local council's refusal.

The 23 megawatt Swallett Energy Park, which will be built between Dauntsey and Christian Malford in Wiltshire, and will cover 114 hectares (281 acres).

A meeting of Wiltshire Council's strategic planning committee in March 2025 had voted down the plans, citing landscape concerns and the impact on designated heritage assets, with more than 50 letters of objection sent by residents.

The solar panels are expected to be able to produce enough energy to power more than 9,400 homes.


Listen to Dieter Helm. 

BBC Politics
@BBCPolitics
"China burns half the world's coal, so we don't solve our problems by simply closing down British industries," Sir Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy at Oxford University.

Some comments.

BBC should pay attention. Dieter Helm knows exactly what he's talking about. An activist lunatic he ain't. Either UK gets it act together on affordable energy or we're finished. Political sales pitches are no longer acceptable.

Time to scrap the net zero bollocks and kick-start British businesses to produce things for British people. The fact we're having this nonsense thrown down our throats when it'll have zero effect is madness.

Makes our right-on rulers feel virtuous. We export their guilt by importing the carbon in cut-price products manufactured abroad.

Yes, they burn coal to make products for the rest of the world. They’re not burning it for their own consumption FFS. They’re burning it in our behalf.

Now it's time for dinner. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip. ilona

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5 comments:

  1. Will2 February 2026 at 22:03

    Anybody sanctioning a solar panel array in England is totally delusional, statistically the UK is ranked 229 out of 230 for solar power. And where will those 9,400 homes get their electricity from during the daily hours of darkness when the sun is below the horizon?
    I think that any planner approving a solar panel array should be forced to live their life with electricity only available to their homes during daylight hours and when the panels are not obscured by cloud. Maybe then they might appreciate the insanity of such destroyers of prime agricultural land and food supply?

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    1. ilona3 February 2026 at 10:04

      I can't see any end to this madness. What happens when these new enormous Data Centres come into play? It is said that solar and wind power are not going to be able to cope with the high demands for electricity. They will be limiting how long we can use it within our homes, to supply these monster installations.

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    2. Anonymous3 February 2026 at 10:38

      ilona, thats so true. Where will the power come for all the data centres. Most of the data centres are in America, Asia and central europe, but I guess they will be in more places eventually. so how does America power all the Amazon data centres. My company is transfering all our UK government systems to Amazon cloud services. We should have built more clean nuclear plants 20 years ago, but they stopped that and the only new one won't be finished for 10 years (Sizewell C). Apparently Sizewell B currently provides power to millions of homes/businesses in the South and East :-) Clean, cheep and the building is the size of a small factory. Norma.

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  2. Anonymous2 February 2026 at 22:24

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  3. Anon3 February 2026 at 08:41

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Merry Christmas.

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