Three solar projects have been granted development consent by the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) this week, in what the Secretary Ed Miliband has described as a "rooftop revolution".
These projects include:
Sunnica and Gate Burton will each have a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW), while Mallard Pass will have a capacity of 350MW.
According to Solar Media, together the total capacity of the three projects is approximately two-thirds of the 1.9 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy installed on rooftops and the ground last year. The amount of power is enough to supply around 400,000 homes with electricity.
Miliband said: "I want to unleash a UK solar rooftop revolution. We will encourage builders and homeowners in whatever way we can to deliver this win-win technology to millions of addresses in the UK so people can provide their own electricity, cut their bills and at the same time help fight climate change".
These decisions have caused local outcries, with the Tory MP for Rutland and Stamford, Alicia Kearns saying she was "utterly appalled" by Miliband's decision to give the go-ahead to the Mallard Pass farm.
The government have justified the move on the grounds it will provide clean energy to power about 92,000 homes over the next 60 years.
Sugandha Srivastav, of Oxford University's Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, commented that opening the door to more large solar power farms will have to be quickly followed by improvements to the National Grid: "We need to think urgently about how we transmit and distribute electricity".
"The demand for power is only going to go up as we electrify society and if we cannot get electricity to where it needs to be, we will be in an untenable situation".
