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Coed Ely Solar Farm Planning Application

Coed Ely Solar Farm is an innovative renewable project powering a local hospital with low-carbon electricity and feeding energy back into the national grid.

The Council engaged our multidisciplinary team of engineers and renewable energy specialists to lead the feasibility studies and guide the planning application for this project.

One of the key features of this effort was that the planned solar farm would provide a valuable new use for the selected 84 acres of brownfield site, a former coal tip. While the soil quality on this reclaimed colliery site is unsuitable for crops, it does support grazing. Through the Council¡¯s scheme, grazing rights for animals have been maintained, alongside a clean energy scheme.

Our main challenge was overcoming the site¡¯s topography. Through careful solar design and geological investigations, we determined the optimum layout for the scheme and cable routes to the hospital.

We handled the full photovoltaic (PV) design including mounting, electrical infrastructure, panels, site access, foundation design, and layout. We also modelled the costs and the long-term financial benefits to the local authority in keeping with their climate change strategy.

We also supported the council in procuring the contractor who oversaw the build phase and assisted with the operations and maintenance programme that followed.

The site contains more than 9,000 PV panels, half of which face east and half west, allowing continual use throughout the day. The panels were installed at a low pitch to reduce potential glare sometimes associated with solar farms. A 3.2km underground private wire cable allows the scheme to export one megawatt (MW) of electricity to Royal Glamorgan Hospital, helping drive down carbon emissions for the National Health Service (NHS). On peak summer days, the solar farm is expected to meet 100 percent of the hospital¡¯s electricity demand.

The solar farm will save an estimated 7,355 tonnes of carbon emission during its 40-year lifespan. It will connect five megawatts of power directly to the national grid.