Enviromena overturns denial, wins approval for 40-MWac English solar farm

• Enviromena secures planning consent on appeal for a 40-MWac/48.9-MWdc solar project in England after an initial refusal.

UK developer Enviromena has successfully appealed a planning refusal and now has the green light to build a 40-MWac (48.9-MWdc) solar project in England, a reminder that perseverance and solid evidence can reverse local setbacks. Planning inspectors weighed factors such as agricultural land classification, visual impacts, and biodiversity gains; with mitigations in place, the public-interest case for clean power carried the day. 

The project will deploy modern tracked, bifacial arrays with string-level monitoring and SCADA diagnostics, alongside habitat enhancements—pollinator-friendly seeding, hedgerow management, and wildlife corridors—that improve social license. Many UK sponsors now design “battery-ready” sites, reserving pad space and transformer capacity for future two-to-four-hour systems that shift late-afternoon energy into the evening peak and provide National Grid services. 

As interconnection and permitting tighten, appeals are becoming part of the delivery playbook. This win not only revives a useful block of capacity; it also sets helpful precedent on balancing land use with the urgent need for reliable, low-carbon power.