Dover District Council has approved plans to develop a solar farm on land in Guston near Dover.

The application on farmland off The Lane in Guston is for a 24 MW solar farm on around 29 hectares of land, with battery storage and associated works, to be used for a period of 40 years. The solar farm is set to help avoid around 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted per year.

The electricity generated is set to be transmitted to the National Grid via a connection to the Guston substation.

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The proposal came from solar farm management company Greentech.

This comes as DDC continues to take positive steps to help combat climate change. DDC aims to become a net zero carbon emitter by 2030 and aspires for the district to be carbon neutral by 2050. For more details, please see our climate change pages.

The development accords with the National Planning Policy Framework and the policy for renewable and low carbon energy development within the emerging Local Plan, which is currently out to consultation, as well as responding to a key priority on Climate Change, Environment and Assets in the Council’s Corporate Plan.

Cllr Chris Vinson, DDC Cabinet Member for Climate Change, said: "We continue to work hard to tackle climate change and to reduce the district’s carbon footprint, to help protect the planet, and to help the district become carbon neutral for the future."