No. The entire Rosefield site is 771 hectares (approx. 1,906 acres). We expect to use less than 40% (279 hectares / 689 acres) of that for solar panels and battery storage. The rest of the site would be used for landscape and ecological enhancements.

We do. EDF Renewables actively pursues opportunities to support rooftop solar and already partners with Tesco to install solar panels on supermarket and warehouse roofs.

Many businesses investing in rooftop solar are doing so because they use a high amount of electricity and solar panels help to reduce their energy costs. Others may generate enough energy to export to the grid, but the amounts able to be produced and exported vary depending on available roof space, design and having the right connections to the grid.

But to meet the UK’s renewable energy targets, this needs to take place alongside all scales of solar projects – from the very small to the very large.

This includes ground-mounted solar at locations where grid connections exist like Rosefield Solar Farm, and installation on commercial properties, domestic settings and brownfield sites. Brownfield sites are often considered for solar development, but these sites tend to be more challenging in development terms, as the ground conditions are often unfavourable. There are also practical challenges around installing solar panels on some roofs due to the direction they face, their pitch, or poor maintenance.

No. To deliver the amount of solar energy generation that the Government has identified as needed to reach net zero by 2050 would require around 0.5% of the land currently used in the UK for farming. This is roughly half of the space currently taken up by golf courses.

Our preliminary assessments show that Rosefield is almost entirely located on agricultural land that the Government does not define as the most productive (known as ‘best and most versatile’ land).

More broadly, the Government has identified climate change is the biggest medium to long term risk to the country’s food supply: this could reduce the proportion of ‘Best and Most Versatile’ agricultural land from 38.1% to 11.4% by 2050. Solar farms like Rosefield have a key role to play in combatting climate change. They also support farming in the long run by allowing the soil under panels to lie fallow and recover in quality.

We recognise that there has been a significant volume of construction in the area due to HS2 and East-West Rail.

In response to feedback about the current and potential future effects of construction on the local area, we have developed an initial draft of our Outline Construction Traffic Management Plan which details our approach to managing construction traffic effects. 

We oppose the abuse of human rights and forced labour anywhere in the global supply chain. We ask all suppliers to ensure compliance with the Modern Slavery Act and we are also actively strengthening our existing procurement process to make every effort to prevent any negative impact on people and the environment.

We support applying the highest possible levels of transparency and sustainability throughout the value chain and commit to the development of an industry-led traceability protocol to help ensure our supply chain is free of human rights abuses.

We have not yet started the procurement process for Rosefield Solar Farm. This process would begin should Rosefield Solar Farm be granted consent. As part of this process, we would determine the most appropriate suppliers at the time.

Protecting the amenity of local footpaths and creating new routes has informed our proposals.

We are proposing a new 1.9km permissive footpath – and a slight diversion of the existing route near Pond Farm (312m shorter) – to link routes would help create more off-road connections between Steeple Claydon and other local villages, open up access to areas near Knowl Hill and create new viewpoints to appreciate Claydon House and the surrounding area.

We are also considering opportunities for improving wayfinding and installing heritage information panels to help people learn about the local landscape and history of the area.

To protect the amenity of the public rights of way running from Botolph Claydon and around the existing woodlands, we are proposing a 55m wide green corridor along Bernwood Jubilee Way. A mix of grasses and wildflowers is also proposed to boost biodiversity along this route.

As second green corridor would be created along Midshires Way. It would include a 20m setback from both sides of the path. We are also proposing a short footpath diversion (115m longer) near the East Claydon Substation to ensure that the footpath can continue to be used.

Views of Rosefield from public and private locations – including nearby homes, villages, roads and footpaths – are an important consideration in the design process for Rosefield.

To protect visual amenity and screen views of Rosefield, our updated proposals include setbacks from nearby homes and footpaths, as well as early proposals for new tree and hedgerow planting across the site.

We will continue to refine our plans for new planting following the consultation. 

Monitoring of solar farms in the UK has shown that they can provide habitats for rare and vulnerable species like skylark and brown hares, as well as support a wide range of plants.

Ecology surveys have helped identify the different habitats and species in and around the site. We are proposing to set aside around 23% of the site for landscaping and environmental enhancement initiatives.

Using feedback from consultation, the results of our environmental assessments and our ongoing work with stakeholders, we will design a detailed biodiversity plan for Rosefield Solar Farm to deliver a ‘net gain’ in biodiversity.

Yes. Battery storage technology is safe and makes use of tried and tested technology, much of which we use in our day-to-day lives, such as electric cars.

While battery storage at Rosefield would be larger in scale, we would build safety measures into our battery design, including, for example, self-contained units for each battery. This is something EDF Renewables does at the battery storage sites it manages around the country.

We are working with Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue, along with other relevant statutory bodies as we develop proposals for Rosefield. Their feedback to date has fed into our updated proposals and we will continue to consult with them as our plans evolve.

Solar farms need to connect into the National Grid to supply the electricity they generate to homes and businesses. We have secured a 500MW grid connection agreement with National Grid at East Claydon Substation. There would also be capacity to import power from the network.

The East Claydon Substation, which was originally built in the 1960s, is coming towards the end of its useful life. It also needs to be replaced to meet National Grid’s commitments to new connections at this location (of which Rosefield’s connection would be less than 10% of the proposed capacity).

At this stage, we do not anticipate that National Grid’s proposal to replace the substation would impact the timescales of our Development Consent Order (DCO) application. We are aiming to submit our DCO as planned in early 2025. We will continue to work with National Grid throughout this process.

No. We are aware of separate proposals for battery storage in the local area. These are standalone projects that do not form part of our proposals for Rosefield Solar Farm.

Other battery storage projects in the area have separate grid connection agreements with National Grid and are being developed separately.

Where information about projects is publicly available, these will be included in our cumulative assessment.