Island Green Power Reopens Talks on 500-MW East Pye Solar

• Island Green Power launches second consultation on its 500-MW East Pye Solar and battery scheme in South Norfolk, aiming to power 115,000 homes.

Island Green Power (IGP) has opened a second round of public consultation on East Pye Solar, a 500-MW solar-plus-battery scheme planned on farmland east of Long Stratton in South Norfolk. The fresh engagement period invites residents, businesses and local councils to review updated layouts, traffic routes and community-benefit proposals before the project heads into the formal planning phase.

Spanning ten land parcels east of Long Stratton and a separate battery energy-storage site near Great Moulton, the scheme would connect to the existing 400 kV overhead line that links National Grid’s Norwich Main and Bramford substations. The on-site battery system—sized up to the same 500 MW as the solar array—would store excess generation and export it when demand peaks, improving grid resilience and smoothing intermittency.

If approved, East Pye could supply enough electricity for roughly 115,000 homes, cutting an estimated 120,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year. IGP says its design will deliver a net gain in biodiversity by combining wildflower meadows, hedgerow planting and habitat corridors with continued sheep grazing beneath the panels. 

Because the project exceeds 50 MW, it qualifies as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and must secure a Development Consent Order (DCO) from the UK Planning Inspectorate. IGP aims to submit its DCO application in late 2025 after digesting feedback from the current consultation, with construction pencilled in to start before the decade’s end if consent is granted.

East Pye is the developer’s second major UK venture to hit statutory consultation this year, following its 600-MW Cottam Solar project in Nottinghamshire, which recently received ministerial sign-off. The company argues that large-format projects are vital for meeting Britain’s 70-GW solar target by 2035 and easing pressure on constrained transmission networks.

Local campaigners, however, remain divided. Some welcome fresh income for farmers and cheaper home-grown power; others fear landscape change, construction traffic and the long tenure—East Pye would operate for up to 60 years before the land is restored. The current consultation, featuring drop-in exhibitions and an interactive website, will run for six weeks, giving South Norfolk residents another chance to shape one of the UK’s largest renewables proposals.