Canterbury clears Britton Court 38-MW solar plus 30-MW battery scheme

• Canterbury City Council has approved Renewable Connections’ Britton Court project, pairing 38 MW of solar with a 30 MW battery to power 15,000 homes and strengthen Kent’s clean-energy ambitions.

Canterbury City Council has granted full planning consent for Renewable Connections’ Britton Court Solar Farm, a hybrid development north of Tyler Hill that will couple 38 MW AC of solar generation with a 30 MW battery-energy-storage system (BESS). The green light enables the project to enter National Energy System Operator (NESO) Gate 2, the crucial next step for securing a grid connection under the UK’s reformed queue process. 

Sited across 56 ha of farmland at Britton Court Farm and Amery Court Farm—two parcels flanking Hackington Road between Tyler Hill and Radfall—the installation will span eight screened fields. Once operational, the array’s single-axis-tilted modules will feed electricity into the local 132 kV network, while the four-hour BESS dispatches power during evening peaks and performs grid-balancing services.

Project data show the scheme will deliver about 41 GWh of clean electricity a year, enough to meet the needs of roughly 15,000 households and displace 7,479 t of CO₂ annually. Designed for a 40-year life, the site includes biodiversity enhancements, seasonal sheep grazing and a community benefit fund for local projects. 

Britton Court continues a busy run for Edinburgh-based Renewable Connections, which last month secured consent for a 52-MW stand-alone battery at Yarnton in Oxfordshire and for the Carr House solar-plus-storage project in North Yorkshire. By advancing assets through NESO’s new gating system—introduced to unclog a grid queue now topping 700 GW—the developer hopes to shave years off the connection timetable that has stalled many UK renewables.

The approval also dovetails with Canterbury’s Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2030, which prioritises local renewable-energy infrastructure. As Britain races to quadruple clean-power capacity by mid-century, mid-sized co-located projects like Britton Court are gaining favour for their ability to maximise existing grid headrooms while boosting regional energy security.