A recent news article shows that the developers are already looking forward to getting more energy out of the power station.
Hive Energy told an industry audience last week that it believes technological improvements mean its planned Kent solar farm will have 14% more capacity than originally conceived.
The Cleve Hill scheme could have a capacity of as much 400MW, the company said, compared to the UK’s current largest solar farm, a 72.2MW one in Wales.
via UK heatwave helps solar power to record weekly highs | Environment | The Guardian
So, why the headline about profit? Surely there’s nothing wrong with profit – it’s an essential part of the economy? It’s certainly one argument.
But hang on a minute; the developers have continuously stressed to us that this scheme is not subsidised by government and that to make it financially viable, they have to work at this monstrous scale (despite the fact that other solar developments have already launched without subsidy at 5% of the size).
They have asserted that because there is no subsidy, there is no ability to compensate local residents for the impact this will have on them.
They have picked this area, not because it is the most suitable land, but because it is cheaper for them to degrade a greenfield site than it is to invest in improving a brownfield site.
So, hearing that they will be able to make even more profit, whilst they continue their false assertions about the project drivers, is – in the view of this author, somewhat troubling.
(EDITED 6/JUL/2018 to clarify the point about profit)
