Cable Route FAQs
A: Salle substation is the nearest connection point for the Pettywell solar farm and we have a grid connection agreement in place for this with UK Power Networks – the operator of the local electrical grid.
A: The route has been carefully chosen to minimise possible disruption to the area and considering the environmental impact of the work. First and foremost, we worked to keep the route out of the centre of Reepham. Secondly, we worked to minimise the amount of the route which is within the public road. In addition to this, other factors taken into account were:
- Avoiding ecological or heritage designation areas
- Avoiding areas which would represent specific construction challenges
- minimising the number of utilities that needed to be crossed
A: Unfortunately, the type of electricity which flows through those cables is quite different to the electricity produced by the Pettywell project. To connect into those cables would require large buildings of electrical equipment in order make the two systems compatible.
The routes for the other cables were agreed specifically for those projects and as such there was not any spare space left that could be used for these routes.
A: No. Whilst we have managed to negotiate agreements with many landowners to lay three-quarters of the route through private or council land, some of the route has to be on the highway. In some areas there are technical or environmental difficulties that necessitate use of the highway, and some areas the highway is the more direct route available.
A: Works in the highway will be subject to the usual permitting process and notice periods given. Notifications to the neighbours affected will be issued for the periods of road closure closer to the time.
A: Where the highway is sufficiently wide enough to allow works to progress safely alongside passing traffic, the road will remain open and traffic movements will be controlled by traffic lights.
Unfortunately for some sections of the route the road is not wide enough to allow this, and the road must be closed for use as a thoroughfare – these include where the cable route follows Smuggler’s Lane, Kerdiston Road and Stony Lane. There are also short sections of Dereham Rd (heading west out of Reepham) and Cawston Rd (heading east toward Cawston) which will need to be closed because of the narrowness of certain bends. Access for residents will continue to be provided.
These closures will be timed to allow traffic to use the road during key morning and evening peak travelling periods, and the road will be usable outside of the construction working hours.
One stretch of works on the B1145 is away from houses meaning works can be carried out overnight, meaning the road can be open during the day.
A: Even where there are road closures access will always be provided for residents, emergency access etc. During working times crews can lay plates over excavations and move equipment to allow access and egress. Outside of working times equipment will be moved out of the way and the ground made safe to move over.
A: The cable route can continue in the highway from Kerdiston Road heading north and turning into Stony Lane before turning left up to the Marriott’s Way. However, if the cable route cuts across Stimpson’s Piece then this would mean less disruption to traffic movements. Albanwise will be discussing this alternative with Reepham Town Council to see if it is possible. The route across the field here would mostly keep to the treeline and avoid disruption to the football pitches and playing fields.
A: The cable route follows the Way for approximately 380m where it runs through Reepham and it also crosses the Marriott’s Way where it runs along the northern boundary of the solar farm.
While trenching works are going on the route will have to unfortunately be closed to the public for their safety as the working area is too narrow to safely permit passage alongside.
While works are progressing on the eastern half of the Reepham section there is a suitable diversion whereby users of the Way can walk around to the car park in front of the station café and then rejoin the Way via the western end of the platform. Unfortunately, there is no suitable diversion while works are progressing on the western half of the Way section but work on this section is expected to take no longer than five days.
A: Heading east from Reepham the Marriott’s way runs nearly all the way up to the substation. Unfortunately, the working width is very narrow and the Way is extensively lined with trees. It would not be possible to complete the works in such a narrow corridor and bury the cables without causing untold damage to the roots.
A: Pedestrian access will certainly be able to be maintained to the allotments while trenching works are ongoing between the Stony Lane and the Marriott’s Way. Vehicular access will not be possible, though. However, trenching works along this section are expected to take no longer than 2 days. The construction teams will be able to liaise with the users of the allotments to ensure disruption is minimised.
A: A detailed construction plan is still to be created but the works are expected to take place between early/mid 2027 and early 2028. To complete all the cable laying works is expected to take about 6 months but this will involve teams working on sections moving up and down the route so the works at any one section will be much less than that.
A: The cable trench itself will be up to one metre wide and will have four plastic pipes laid at the bottom of it – three for electricity cables and one for communications wire. The trench will be back filled with the excavated soil and the surface reinstated to how it was before. The trenching team will move along the route laying the plastic pipes and reinstating the ground as they go.
The electricity cables will be delivered in approximately 500m lengths, therefore every 500m or so along the route there will be joints between the cable sections. Once the trenching work has been completed along a stretch, the cable drums will be delivered to these jointing locations, and the cables will be pulled off the drums and through the plastic pipes by a winch located at the next jointing section along the route. The ends of the cables are there jointed together. The design team is working on ensuring that the cable joints are kept off the highway meaning traffic disturbance can be kept to a minimum.
A: It will not be like the recent offshore grid connection work. It is a much smaller scale cable connection because there fewer, smaller cables and so it will only need a small width route.
A: No, the cables will have a metal core for the conductor and then will be surrounded by a type of plastic insulation as well as other wrappings for protection and earthing.
A: Noise and dust will be actively managed to keep any disturbance to a minimum. A construction management plan will be agreed with the council to demonstrate how this will be done. This will also set limits on the times of the work.
A: Yes. There is proposed to be a secure works compound in a field off of Cawston Road, east of Reepham.
A: Yes, a point of contact for the works will be advertised should anyone need to get in touch with the project regarding the works as they take place.
A: When the application is submitted to Broadland District Council you will be able to make comments on it during their consultation.
If you have particular questions about the plans, or how they may impact you, please contact us here
Site Design Change FAQs
A: No, there is no change to the extent or number of solar panels or the frames they will sit on. The changes purely concern the equipment which sits in the compound in the middle.
A: Further work on the design of the grid connection has meant that the electrical components contained within the central compound have needed to be revised and reconfigured.
The original application included two large container type enclosures which would have contained most of the necessary electrical equipment. The site is now designed to include a main site transformer along with the necessary electrical equipment to contain that and the two containers have now been amalgamated into in a single steel frame type building.
There have been minor movements to the neighbouring battery compound to fit in with this redesign but all the separations and safety details that were contained within the Fire Safety Note which was part of the original planning application remain valid.
Some additional planting is proposed to thicken out the mature trees and hedges that already line two sides of the compound.
A: The plans have been changed because of updated work on the design of the cable connection and discussions with UK Power Networks, the local grid operator.
As a result of these changes fewer cables will need to be laid between the site and the grid substation.
A: Some new equipment is being located in the central substation which is slightly taller than that which was included in the original application. However, this compound is tucked away within the middle of the site and surrounded on two sides by mature hedgerows and trees and additional planting has been proposed to further screen this feature.
Additionally, during the construction phase there will be the delivery of the main transformer using a large articulated lorry. This is just one delivery to the site, and it will use the construction access route proposed for the project itself, which has been assessed and found to be suitable for this delivery. Details of all of these assessments will be included in the S73 application.
A: Section 73 just refers to the part of the Town and Country Planning Act which handles changes to the details of planning permissions which have been granted.
A: When the application is submitted to Broadland District Council you will be able to make comments on it during their consultation.
If you have particular questions about the plans, or how they may impact you, please contact us here
Solar and BESS FAQs
A: We carefully selected the site entrance and access route in order to avoid small country lanes.
We surveyed traffic movements on the B1145 at two locations near the site entrance and the average of movements between the two locations, over the same days as we are proposing construction works across, was 2,277 per day. The range between the highest and lowest number of movements per day was 794 at location 1 and 1020 at location 2.
During the phase of peak construction traffic activity, we estimate up to 4,600 movements occurring over two months, which translates to an increase of only 112 movements per day, or 4.9% of the daily traffic.
For the rest of the construction period, vehicle movements will be much lower.
A: Most of the cable laying works for the offshore wind farms at the project site are scheduled for 2025. The solar farm construction will occur from late 2027 into 2028, resulting in minimal overlap. The cable laying works have been considered in the cumulative assessments for the application.
A: No, the solar farm and surrounding land management will create more diverse habitats compared to regular crop fields. The field boundaries will be enhanced with supplemental planting of meadow grass seed mixes on 10-meter -wide strips either side of the trees and hedges.
No trees will be removed, and over one kilometre of new or improved hedgerows will be established, along with bird and bat boxes added in. These measures will support a variety of plant, invertebrate, animal and bird species.
A: We have surveyed the site and identified around 10 setts, with 40% being main established setts and the rest outlier setts. The project is designed to avoid most setts, except for one outlier in the east, which will be closed under a working license from Natural England. Once operational, badgers will no doubt reestablish setts across the site, with suitably sized mammal gaps in the solar area fence to allow them to move freely across the site.
A: Yes, grazing sheep under the panels is a great cooperative use of the land. The sheep keep the grass and weeds down, and the panels provide shelter. The panels are set at a minimum height of 800mm from the ground (about 2 and half feet) to ensure free movement for the animals. If no sheep are available, the area will need periodic mowing to prevent anything growing so tall it starts shading the panels. Mowing/grazing also helps maintain the habitat for the wild grass and flower seed mix sown under the panels.
A: Qualified drainage engineers have assessed the site, and no problematic runoff is expected. Moving away from arable farming will improve the soil’s ability to hold and slow water movement.
The panel installation will not cause significant water flow concentration due to gaps between panels allowing water to pass between them. Sheep grazing would be at a low level and would not alter the chemical composition of nearby watercourses. Water movement is expected to be slowed and captured by the soil and established vegetation.
A: The location of renewable energy projects is dictated by the availability of electrical capacity onto the national grid. Capacity and a viable connection was identified at the Salle substation near the applicant’s land. We reviewed the suitability of the land against planning criteria and found it comparable or better than other areas that could connect to the substation within the same distance (which is near the limit of how far you can be from the grid connection point).
A: The project area is primarily a combination of grades 3a and 3b agricultural land, with some grade 2 and represents approximately 24% of the wider landholding which will continue to be farmed. This land is used for producing common commodity crops (of which the UK is an exporter of) and non-specialist crops which can be grown in many areas across the country.
The Climate Change Committee estimates that we will need 90GW of solar by 2050 (70GW by 2035), which would mean solar farms would at most account for approximately 0.6% of UK land – less than the amount currently occupied by golf courses.
A: Yes, only a very small percentage of the site will have hard standing. The rest of the solar array will have small metal bars supporting the panel framework. At the project’s end, the bars can be removed, and the topsoil, which was taken off during construction and safely stored, can be reapplied. The soil is expected to be in good condition for agriculture after 40 years without routine compaction, cultivation including chemical application. There have been many decisions from Planning Inspectors confirming that solar farms do not represent permanent loss of agricultural land.
A: The battery compound itself covers approximately 0.4 acres at the site’s centre.
Batteries work well with solar farms because they are able to hold the electricity that is generated during the middle of the day and then deliver it to the grid at the peak of daily demand, which occurs in late afternoon and early evening. Batteries can also work independently of the solar panels to help provide stability and other general services to the grid which helps maintain the quality and security of regional electricity supplies.
A: Fires at grid-connected battery facilities are rare. Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service have been consulted throughout the design phase to ensure preventive measures and assistance provisions are in place. The site layout follows international safety standards and national fire service guidance, and it has been designed to minimise any impact from such an event.
A: The nearest operational solar farms of comparable size are at the old airfield at RAF Coltishall, 32MW, at NR10 5AQ and the West Raynham scheme near Fakenham, 50MW, at NR21 7PD. Pettywell is proposed to be a 40MW scheme.
A: Albanwise own a 30MW Copley solar Farm in Nottinghamshire & in East Yorkshire, have planning permission for 2 solar farms of 40MW & 50MW. Albanwise also own an 18MW wind farm in West Yorkshire and several battery sites. The team have been involved in building and operating more than 10 solar farms in England and Wales.
A: The site is not in the Green Belt, so it does not have any additional protection other than it is considered countryside. Large solar farms will need to be located in the countryside as there is insufficient brownfield land available.
A: The site will need to be fenced off but small mammal gates in the fencing allow mammals to traverse the whole site.
A: There is currently no public access to the site so nothing changes in this regard.
More information and useful links about solar farms*
Onshore renewables and batteries in general
REGEN & All-Party Parliamentary Group on Renewable & Sustainable Energy: Onshore Renewable Energy: Common Myths
Information on the ecology around solar farms
Solar Energy UK: Solar Habitat 2024: Ecological Trends on Solar Farms in the UK
Solar farm use of agricultural land
Solar Energy UK: Factsheet: Solar Farms and Agricultural Land