Solar farm to be built near site of Kellingley Colliery

Harworth Group, the brownfield land regeneration and property investment specialist, has completed a deal to build a 5MW solar farm in 28 acres of land near Kellingley Colliery, in North Yorkshire, which closed last year.

Kellingley Solar Farm Limited secured planning consent for the solar farm in July 2015, and it has now signed a 31-year lease with Harworth Group. Building work on the solar farm will start shortly, with a target generation date of March 2017.

It will be 10th farm operating on Harworth land in the UK. Once the Kellingley solar farm is operational, the solar farms will deliver a maximum of 62.8MW of energy capacity, which is enough to power more than 20,000 family homes.

Hannah Moxon, the senior estates manager in Harworth’s natural resources team, said: “This is an excellent deal for Harworth and low-carbon energy developments form an important part of increasing our recurring income base.

“Although the basis for renewables subsidies has now changed, we remain convinced that solar and wind farms are an important part of the UK energy mix, and we believe the Government’s proposed industrial strategy should reintroduce incentives to bring further developments forward.”

Harworth’s Natural Resources team has developed a series of renewable energy schemes on its land, in partnership with a number of leading energy companies. The company’s portfolio includes 23 operating low-carbon energy schemes, including solar farms, wind farms and coal mine methane.

Kellingley Colliery closed on December 18 last year, with the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Its closure marked the end of 300 years of deep mining in Britain.

Harworth owns and manages more than 22,000 acres of land across 150 sites, ranging from residential development land to commercial properties, low carbon energy schemes and agricultural estates.