Letters: The case for solar farms
[Re: If Truss wants growth, she needs to face down the rural lobby and back solar farms, October 7]
It is a fallacy to say solar farms impede food production. The amount of UK land used for agriculture is 71 per cent. Of that, only 26 percent is used for crops. The rest is grassland and lacks the quality to justify planting crops economically. The HMG Report on Food Security makes this exact point – not all land is created equal.
The National Farmers Union supports solar and has agreed that it does not impede food production.
The UK urgently needs energy security but is too reliant on imported energy, and this makes us vulnerable to disruption in the energy markets.
It is time to focus on a sustainable policy which prioritises British energy for British people.
A mix of technologies domestically generating energy is what is now required. Solar has an important role to play in this mix. It can deploy and generate electricity quicker than most other means.
This, coupled with its high levels of support amongst the general public and landowners, and it not requiring a penny of government support, enhances its attractiveness. For a free-market government to be considering making legislation to deter this capital investment is staggering, whilst other governments are doing everything they can do to encourage solar deployment.
Colm Killeen
Director at Island Green Power