Planning permission for 38 solar farms in Cambridgeshire has been granted by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in the last year, with just five failing to win approval.

Only five much-larger counties (Cornwall, Devon, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire) have seen more interest from solar-farm developers nationally.

The most recent to be completed is an 11.5MW scheme installed by Lightsource (www.lightsource-re.co.uk) at Wiggin Hill Farm, St Ives (near Huntingdon).

The 45-acre solar farm has now been connected to the National Grid and will provide enough electricity to power 3,450 local homes. The 38 solar farms in Cambridgeshire given planning permission amount to an installed capacity of 565MW — enough to power 169,500 homes.

Conor McGuigan, business-development director at Lightsource, said: “With plenty of sunshine for most of the year,
the East of England has a crucial role to play in the future of the UK’s solar industry. Landowners can be assured
that solar farms are still an attractive proposition, but choices need to be made wisely.”

A total of 32 solar farms across Cambridgeshire are currently operational.