6. Socio-economic considerations & community benefit

Welsh Government targets

Welsh Government has acknowledged that there is a climate emergency and has committed to decarbonising and tackling the causes of climate change over the coming years. Generating renewable energy is a key part of that commitment and the Welsh Government has set ambitious targets for the generation of renewable energy, including:

• For 70% of electricity consumption to be generated from renewable energy by 2030.
• For one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity to be locally owned by 2030.
• For new renewable energy projects to have at least an element of local ownership from 2020.

Through the development and delivery of Parc Solar Traffwll, we hope to provide a significant contribution towards these targets.

Community buy-in scheme

In addition to the significant capital investment in the local area, and broader employment and supply chain benefits, we are also actively exploring opportunities to deliver community benefit and/or community ownership in some form. We would be grateful for local feedback on this point and we would be pleased to consider all options in this respect. In the past, we have either made a local financial contribution to the local area or have worked closely with the local community to deliver community-owned solar farms (such as Ray Valley Solar Farm in Oxfordshire).

Biodiversity enhancements and local improvements 

Biodiversity enhancements have been central to our thinking during the development of the proposals. We have outlined on these boards how we have assessed and sought to protect existing ecology through designing our scheme sensitively, however, we have also sought to deliver improvements wherever possible. Opportunities to enhance the local environment biodiversity include the improved management of grassland around the site, management of wet grassland margins for wildlife, reinforcement of hedgerows to improve habitats for a range of species and minimizing sediment runoff to improve the water quality of surrounding water bodies.

We hope that this increase in botanical diversity will lead to an increase in invertebrate diversity, which in turn will provide significant benefits for breeding and wintering birds, small mammals, bats, reptiles and amphibians.

Supply chain 

Economic benefits will arise through the provision of temporary jobs and supply chain services during the construction phase. It is estimated that there will be up to 50 construction jobs created including both direct jobs on-site and indirect roles in the wider economy. The construction phase would also have indirect effects due to the workforce spend in the area.

Opportunities will be taken to maximise the use of local labour sources and suppliers, though the local sourcing of materials, where possible. This will increase income and expenditure in the area will create positive economic benefits for the local economy. We will actively seek to use local resources (labour and materials) where possible during the construction phase.

If you are a local supplier and you are interested in providing your details for any possible construction, operation and maintenance work associated with this solar farm please email your contact details to info@parcsolartraffwll.co.uk