{"id":336558,"date":"2024-07-16T06:51:48","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T04:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336558"},"modified":"2024-07-16T06:51:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T04:51:50","slug":"fears-for-food-security-as-miliband-pushes-through-britains-biggest-solar-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336558","title":{"rendered":"Fears for food security as Miliband pushes through Britain\u2019s biggest solar\u00a0farm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

h\/t Ian Magness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ed Miliband has been accused of endangering the nation\u2019s food security after giving the go-ahead for Britain\u2019s biggest <\/em>solar farm<\/em><\/a> on green land despite the objections of officials.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The <\/em>Energy Secretary<\/em><\/a>\u2019s decision to overturn the planning inspectorate and give the green light to the controversial project in rural eastern England has sparked fury from MPs and campaigners.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scheme will see Sunnica, an energy firm, building a 2,792-acre solar farm and energy storage infrastructure around several villages <\/em>in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire<\/em><\/a>, providing power for 100,000 homes. Mr Miliband has also given the go-ahead along to two solar farms in Lincolnshire.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is feared this will be the first of many further decisions that will sacrifice vast amounts of farmland to net zero energy projects.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The danger is that the fall in domestic agricultural production will compromise the nation\u2019s <\/em>food security<\/em><\/a>, meaning it will face the prospect of greater dependence on food imports and increasing vulnerability to price rises on international markets.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision suggests it is likely that Mr Miliband will make meeting <\/em>net zero targets<\/em><\/a> a priority over preserving agricultural land in the dozens of other solar farm decisions making their way through the planning system.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunnica project, which is equivalent to the size of 2,115 football pitches, was one of three solar farms Mr Miliband waved through on Friday evening.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics have decried the size of the solar farm on agricultural land and the potential danger of the large lithium-ion battery units needed to store the electricity generated by solar panels before transfer to the National Grid. In recent years, similar units have been involved <\/em>in fires and explosions<\/em><\/a> in Britain and abroad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr John Constable, the director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, said Mr Miliband was already \u201clooking like a liability to his party\u2019s <\/em>growth agenda<\/em><\/a> because he simply does not understand how damaging these renewable plans are to the economy. This is beginning to look like it is some kind of dogmatic ideology\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cThere are dozens of solar projects across the UK at all stages of development. If this is a sign of things to come, it looks to me as though developers are going to get a free hand.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny concern for planning balance and environmental impact for reasonable decisions is being thrown to the winds. Food security matters \u2013 why not let the land make good food rather than second or third-rate electricity?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/politics\/2024\/07\/13\/fears-food-security-miliband-solar-farm<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hypocrite of the day award has to go to this Lib Dim:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The solar farm is expected to be up to 500MW, enough to provide about 0.1% of the UK\u2019s electricity. Forget about the fake claims of powering 100,000 homes \u2013 as usual they ignore the fact that residential customers only use about a quarter of the country\u2019s electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When all these other users are taken into account, the real figure is more like 25,000 homes. And in winter, all they can expect is power for a few hours a day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At current CfD strike prices, Sunnica can expect to receive about \u00a3180 million in subsidies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed Miliband has been accused of endangering the nation\u2019s food security after giving the go-ahead for Britain\u2019s biggest solar farm on green land despite the objections of officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":336565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829701,691818902,691821693,691818154,691829702,691819505],"class_list":{"0":"post-336558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-biggest-solar-farm","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-ed-miliband","11":"tag-net-zero","12":"tag-renewable-energy-foundation","13":"tag-solar-farms","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0554296a5e78dbd98814b9b156a21f1bc-1.png?fit=1562%2C1162&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1pym","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":411681,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411681","url_meta":{"origin":336558,"position":0},"title":"\u00a0Ed 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