FAQs

National level – Net Zero and energy security

The UK has set ambitious climate change targets to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to ensure that the energy supply remains secure, reliable, and affordable. Together with legally binding commitments such as these, the UK Government has further set out how the deployment of renewable technologies such as solar will be accelerated in the Government’s Make Britain a clean energy superpower (2024).

This means increasing the UK’s solar capacity three-fold by 2030, taking the total generation capacity 70GW. EcoPower Suffolk would contribute towards achieving this by helping provide a reliable source of affordable energy.

EcoPower Suffolk has the potential to generate around 250 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy. The battery energy storage will help store surplus energy and deploy it to the national grid as it is needed.  This would become a substantial source of clean energy for the country.

The UK has set ambitious and legally binding climate change targets to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This is also to ensure that the energy supply remains secure, reliable, and affordable.

Local level – Suffolk County Council  and Mid Suffolk District Council

EcoPower Suffolk supports Suffolk Council’s stance on Net Zero outlined in their Climate Emergency Plan 2023:

“Suffolk’s public sector leaders have all set out and committed to pursue net-zero strategies in our own organisations that respond to local, national, and international evidence. Furthermore, we will all work together to support and guide our residents, communities, and businesses to make the changes required to best set Suffolk on the path to net zero by 2030.”

EcoPower Suffolk solar farm would contribute to delivering clean, renewable energy and help meet net-zero targets. Econergy’s Project would contribute to Suffolk’s climate ambitions:

“Achieving net-zero emissions means attaining a balance between GHG emissions into and removals from the earth’s atmosphere. In Suffolk, we are emitting far greater quantities than we are removing, which this Plan seeks to address. This means that the energy sector – buildings, transport, industry, and power – needs to reduce emissions to almost zero. In brief, this means that electricity supply needs to become zero carbon, switching generation from fossil fuels to renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind.”

We will work with the councils’ to bring further investment, employment, and innovation opportunities to the area through renewable energy generation and storage.

In order to meet our net-zero and climate change targets, we need BESS to store surplus energy generated by renewables for when it is needed. National Grid estimates that over 35.5 GWh of BESS will be required to meet the UK’s net-zero target by 2050. The BESS proposed at EcoPower Suffolk would provide storage for 249 MW of electricity, which can be stored and released to the grid for up to several hours.

In the Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (NPS EN-1), government’s emerging policy position is in favour of BESS, and they have said: “Storage has a key role to play in achieving net-zero and providing flexibility to the energy system, so that high volumes of low carbon power, heat and transport can be integrated.”

Energy storage is considered a vital enabler in the UK’s transition to a greener energy generation mix and the ambition of net zero. The need to BESS is recognised by government as having a key role to play in achieving net zero and providing the necessary flexibility to the energy system. Electricity storage is also needed to reduce the costs of the electricity system and increase reliability by storing energy generating from renewable sources.

We are aiming to submit the DCO application to PINS in Q2 2026. Further details about the project timeline will be provided in due course. The current connection date for the Project is 2030, therefore assuming development consent is received construction could begin in 2027/2028.

The site is considered a ‘temporary’ development, meaning it would be decommissioned after a set period which could then be returned to its original use. The operational lifespan of EcoPower Suffolk will be proposed as the design and development of the Project progresses.

The Environmental Statement will assess the proposal as temporary and take into account the need to replace equipment during its operational lifetime.

We are committed to working closely with the community, to ensure those near the solar farm also see tangible benefits locally.

We will ensure, wherever possible, local contractors and suppliers have the opportunity to become part of EcoPower Suffolk. Most of the employment and contractor opportunities will likely be available during the construction phase of the Project, if the Project is granted planning permission.

There will be multiple opportunities for local businesses and employees to register their interest in working with us.

We are also currently gathering ideas from local community groups and politically elected representatives on how we can contribute funding to projects and initiatives in the area, including a community benefit fund.

We recognise that early proposals for nationally significant infrastructure projects can cause uncertainty within local communities.  

The emerging site boundary at this stage is a maximum extent which will have a reduced developable area – renewable energy infrastructure will not be proposed to the full extent of this boundary.  

Our refined proposals would include mitigations, such as: vegetation planting to provide visual screening, buffer distances from sensitive receptors, areas for ecological enhancement and areas not proposed for renewable energy infrastructure placement. 

EcoPower Suffolk has committed to engagement with local communities at the earliest opportunity in order to shape more detailed proposals. We have held a number of local stakeholder briefings before the non-statutory consultation period, with the purpose of identifying initial and emerging concerns and to develop a well-designed project accommodating suggestions from the local community where practicable.