Fife’s first commercial solar farms could result in tens of thousands of panels harnessing the sun’s energy just a few miles from St Andrews and Tayport.
Several sites have been identified in recent months as potential locations for solar farms, including land at Wormit and Crail.
Those near Cameron Reservoir and Kirkton Barns will be the first to be brought to the next stage, with a planning applications lodged with Fife Council.
They would be among the first in Scotland and follow the country’s largest solar park in Angus, construction of which is due to begin in a 50-acre field in Carmyllie, Arbroath, later this year.
AAH Planning Consultants has sought consent for up to 20,000 panels each at 8ft 11in at each site, capable of powering a total of 2,222 homes.
Near Cameron Reservoir, three-and-a-half miles south-west of St Andrews, the panels would be erected in a 25-acre field.
At Kirkton Barns, around a mile and a half from Tayport and Newport, they would go in a 22-acre field.
Both proposals will be examined at public meetings hosted by community councils, where representatives of AAH Planning Consultants will outline plans.
Cameron Community Council chairman Gordon Ball encouraged people from outwith Cameron to join residents at its meeting next Wednesday.
He said: “We want as many people as possible to listen to what the developer is proposing and ask questions. We have had limited feedback so far.
“Some people say it would be better than wind turbines and if it’s going to happen then they have no objection.
“Some people are irate because it would be right in front of their houses.”
Fife Council confirmed the planning applications were the first in the region for solely commercial, large-scale solar farms.
No one from AAH Planning Consultants was available for comment but in a document lodged with the local authority the York-based firm said the Cameron panels would have a limited impact visually and would be unlikely to significantly impact on nearby households.
The Kirkton Barns farm, it said, would have very minor visual impact.
Additional screening would be provided for both by landscaping, it added.
The Cameron meeting will be in Cameron Hall next Wednesday at 6.30pm and the Tayport Ferryport-on-Craig Community Council meeting in the Burgh Chambers on June 1 at 7.30pm.