A five megawatt solar farm generating enough energy to power more than 1,000 homes has been given the green light on the Angus/Dundee border.
Developers overcame local concerns about the loss of prime farmland and scenic impact to secure unanimous approval for the farm of almost 21,000 panels less than 100 yards from the A90 dual carriageway.
The Green Power Consultants project will be sited some 200 metres north of Tealing village and involve 20,834 angled and non-reflective solar photovoltaic panels being positioned at 25 degrees in a north-south arrangement, 2.73 metres off the ground at their highest point.
More than 40 letters of representation were submitted in respect of the application 17 in support and 25 raising objections.
The main points of concern centred on council policy, landscape and visual impact, road safety and the loss of prime agricultural land.
Agent Claire Richards said the applicant had worked actively with the community and planners over the past year to mitigate residents’ concerns.
The farm will be sufficient to power 1,100 homes, enough to “make a significant contribution towards meeting renewable energy targets”, she told Angus development standards councillors.
Access to the site will be taken from a farm track to the south west of the site and as well as a 1.9m-high deer fence, the solar farm will be surrounded by a wildlife corridor around its perimeter.
Among the consultee responses was one from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, highlighting the site’s close proximity to a Scottish stronghold for rare corn buntings.
The organisation suggested targeted management for those birds and other farmland wildlife could enhance the solar farm’s biodiversity plan.
The development will also be covered by a series of CCTV cameras.
Planning officials said that despite its proximity to the Dundee to Aberdeen dual carriageway, views from the A90 would be “limited”.
“When travelling along the A90 in a northward direction, the site is located approximately two metres below the level of the road and due to the presence of an existing belt of trees to the south east the site would only be a prominent feature over a distance of 300m,” stated the planning report.
“The potential generating capacity is reasonable for the size of the array. The nature of the site is such that the environmental, landscape and visual effects are localised and the development would not result in unacceptable amenity impacts either individually or cumulatively.”