The Peartree Hill Solar Farm DCO application has today been
granted development consent by the Department for Energy Security
and Net Zero.
The project comprises the construction of a Solar Farm
and collated Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) that would
allow for the generation, export and storage of electricity
exceeding 50 MW.
The application was submitted to the Planning
Inspectorate for consideration by RWE Renewables UK Solar
and
Storage Limited on 21 February 2025 and
accepted for examination
on 21 March 2025.
Following an examination during which the
public, statutory consultees
and interested parties were given the opportunity to
give evidence to the Examining Authority, recommendations were
made to the Secretary of State
on 02 April 2026.
This is the 109th energy application out
of 177 applications examined to date and was again
completed by the Planning Inspectorate within the statutory
timescale laid down in the Planning Act 2008.
Local communities continue to be given the opportunity of being
involved in the examination of projects that may affect them.
Local people, the local authority and
other interested parties were able
to participate in this
six-month examination.
The Examining Authority listened and gave full consideration
to all local views and the evidence gathered during
the examination before making its recommendation to the
Secretary of State.
The decision, the recommendation made by the Examining Authority
to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net
Zero and the evidence considered by the Examining Authority
in reaching its recommendation are publicly available on
theproject
pages of the National Infrastructure Planning website.
This decision was made by on behalf of
the Energy Secretary's legal authority.
