Solar farm delay causing 'fear and uncertainty'

The lack of any construction work at the site of a planned solar farm 18 months after the government approved it was causing uncertainty, a campaigner said.

The 2,500-acre (1,012-hectare) Sunnica Energy Farm project is set to span three separate sites on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border.

Catherine Judkins from Say No to Sunnica said: "This sense of foreboding has been hanging over us... and our communities here face yet another year of fear and uncertainty."

The developer said it would be in a "better position" to give a construction timeline once it knew the outcome of its non-material change application, a process used to make small alterations to an already approved project.

The Sunnica Energy Farm was approved in July 2024 by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who described solar power as "crucial to achieving net-zero".

But there has so far been no visible work on the three main sites, which are:

• Sunnica East Site A, near West Row and Mildenhall in Suffolk
• Sunnica East Site B, south of the village of Worlington, near Mildenhall
• Sunnica West Site A, near Newmarket, north of the A14 in Cambridgeshire

The developers behind the project said they needed to make a non-material change application to ensure it could connect into Burwell substation.

Sunnica said the farm could power up to 172,000 homes and create 1,500 jobs during construction, with 27 full-time jobs to operate it.

Ms Judkins said: "There are far better ways to deliver solar, together with communities and without the extensive harm that the Sunnica scheme will do."

Suffolk County Council has also been "opposed" to the development.

Cabinet member Richard Rout said: "It is for the developer to explain the delay to the delivery of their project.

"There is an open consultation regarding proposed amendments to the scheme, which closes on 16 January, to which the county council will be responding and we would encourage others to do the same."

The BBC asked the Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero about the lack of progress.

A spokesperson said: "Large-scale projects, such as Sunnica solar farm, often need to complete a range of post-consent work before starting construction.

"We have approved enough clean energy projects to power the equivalent of more than 7.5 million homes, helping get us off fossil fuels and deliver energy security so we can bring bills down for good."

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