FAQs

  • Established in 2013, Island Green Power (IGP) is a leading developer of renewable energy projects and battery storage systems.  

    We deliver renewable energy solutions that create lasting value for the communities we serve, protecting the environment while fostering economic growth and energy independence. 

    Since launch, we have successfully delivered nearly 40 solar projects worldwide that have generated more than 3 GW of energy capacity. This includes 21 solar projects in the UK. These range in size from below 5 MW to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects such as Cottam Solar Project, currently the UK’s largest consented solar project. Cottam will generate 600 MW of clean, renewable and secure electricity and includes 600 MW of battery storage that will store then release energy as needed. 

    We are committed to help the UK decarbonise and meet net zero goals. Our mission is to help the UK increase its solar energy generation, making more renewable energy possible while drastically reducing carbon emissions.  

    We are equally committed to responsible land use, developing projects that work in harmony with local communities and the environment, while delivering bespoke benefits and enhancements best suited to the surroundings. 

    With a core team based in London, we are also supported by an established network of professional advisors and local partners in the various markets in which we operate. 

    Light Valley Solar is a 100 per cent subsidiary of IGP UK Projects Limited, which is in turn a 100 per cent subsidiary of Island Green Power’s UK group holding company, Island Green Power Group Limited. Macquarie Asset Management, a leading global asset manager, acquired 50% of IGP in 2022, increasing its stake to 100% in 2025. 

    As a developer, we oversee the entire development process from start to finish, including sourcing land, securing grid connections and obtaining planning consents. When a project receives consent, it will either be constructed by IGP or sold to a specialist firm who will build the solar project to be operated and managed by a long-term owner through its lifecycle. 

    You can find out more about us via the Island Green Power website linked here. 

  • ·       The project includes seven Solar Development Sites totalling approximately 900 hectares (ha), approximately 680 ha of which would be used to host solar panels and associated infrastructure, with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) located on 10.5 ha of land on Site 2. 220 ha would be used for planting, landscaping and other ecological mitigation. Additional land is also required to host the underground Cable Route Corridor (CRC) and Highway Improvement Areas (HIA), with the land returned to its previous condition once the cable has been laid and highway works completed.

    You can view a map of the project on this page. 

  • The proposals for Light Valley Solar include areas of land north and west of Selby in North Yorkshire. The project comprises seven site panel areas, located in rural areas between Monk Fryston, South Milford, Hambleton and Escrick. A 500 MWac grid connection to the transmission network has been secured at National Grid’s Monk Fryston substation.

  • A Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) is a project over a certain size or scale which means it is considered by the Government to be of national importance.

    Light Valley Solar is classified as an NSIP because of the amount of electricity it is anticipated to deliver (up to 500 MW). This exceeds the minimum 50 MW threshold set out in the Planning Act 2008, which was updated to 100 MW in 2025.

    For projects with a generation capacity of less than 100 MW a developer is required to apply for planning permission from the relevant local planning authority under the Town and Country Planning Act (TCPA).

    The development regime for an NSIP comes under the Planning Act 2008. This means we need to submit an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to build, operate and decommission Light Valley Solar to the Planning Inspectorate rather than North Yorkshire Council as the local planning authority.

    In the case of energy related NSIPs the Planning Inspectorate acts on behalf of the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. It will carry out an examination of our application for development consent for Light Valley Solar and then make a recommendation to the Secretary of State on whether to grant consent. The Secretary of State will make the final decision on whether to grant consent for the Project.

    North Yorkshire Council and stakeholder groups will play a key role in the planning process and be consulted as the Project progresses.

    You can find more information about the application process for NSIPs on the Planning Inspectorate website here.

  • We anticipate that the development process through DCO submission and examination will take between two to three years. We submitted our DCO application to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS), who will administer the application on behalf of the Secretary of State, in February 2026. Subject to achieving consent, construction would start no earlier than 2028. 

    Our indicative project timeline can be found on The Planning Process page of this website. 

  • There is a growing body of UK energy and climate change commitments, law, policy and guidance which highlights the urgent need for new energy generation infrastructure, particularly from renewable sources such as solar.  

    Decarbonisation is a UK legal requirement and is of global significance. In June 2019, the Government passed a law to end the UK’s contribution to global warming by 2050: net zero. In December 2024, the Government published the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan which reinforces the urgent need for low carbon generation schemes to come forwards to pave the way to decarbonising the wider economy by 2050. 

    The National Policy Statement (NPS) for Energy establish that there is a critical national priority for the provision of nationally significant low carbon infrastructure, which includes large-scale solar projects. NPS EN-3 states that Government has ‘committed to sustained growth in solar capacity to ensure that we are on a pathway that allows us to meet net zero emissions. As such solar is a key part of the government’s strategy for low-cost decarbonisation of the energy sector’ (paragraph 2.10.9).  

     Light Valley Solar would make a significant contribution towards achieving net zero by helping provide clean, renewable electricity, whilst supporting national targets to decarbonise our electricity systems and bolster our energy security. 

  • We believe the communities closest to the project should benefit from it – with these communities being best placed to recommend what they believe a “community benefit” should be. 

    We are grateful for the many community benefit suggestions that you made during both phases of consultation, which are all now being carefully considered. 

    We are also exploring how a community benefit package could be managed for the Project. Any fund will be managed independently from the Project to ensure that the funds work best for local people.

    Further information regarding community benefits and our intentions for working with the local community can be found here.

  • The independent National Food Strategy Review shows that solar farms do not present a risk to the UK’s food security. In many cases, the income from solar farms helps farmers to diversify and improve their agricultural operations and, in some cases, maintain the integrity of the farming estate for the longer term.     

    While the solar farm is operational, land previously used for arable farming is left to rest, and the use of fertiliser and pesticides on site is significantly reduced. This means the soil would likely be of a higher quality at the end of the lifetime of the project.    

    Solar panels benefit the welfare of lambs by providing shade, which allows them to preserve energy. Grazing also helps to manage plant growth underneath the panels.   

    Solar helps address climate change, which is the single biggest threat to food production in the UK. The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs has estimated that climate change could reduce the UK’s stock of high-grade agricultural land by three quarters by 2050. Light Valley Solar would generate low-carbon electricity, helping to address climate change, protecting the UK’s land and improving long-term food security.   

  • Light Valley Solar has entered into option agreements with two supportive landowners to lease the land proposed for solar panels, substations, energy storage and other associated development relating to the project.

    The option agreements we have in place ensure that the land will be available to lease subject to the project being granted development consent, securing our future ability to develop the land for solar energy production and energy storage.

    As a responsible developer we are committed to transparency and ensuring fairness in the agreement process. All the option agreements with landowners for Light Valley Solar were signed voluntarily, with each landowner being advised by independent solicitors to ensure they fully understood the terms and implications so they could make an informed decision on whether to sign the agreement. 

  • The operational life of for Light Valley Solar will be up to 60 years. At the end of the project’s operational life a decommissioning plan will be enacted. This plan will detail the removal of infrastructure and restoration of the land to its original use (save for any tree or hedgerow planting, which will left in situ on return of the land to the landowner).  

    Any extension of the life of Light Valley Solar would be dependent on new negotiations with landowners and a new planning consent being obtained (as the DCO for Light Valley Solar will require decommissioning after 60 years).  

  • We recognise that Site 1 (near Escrick) is located some distance from other sites and the grid connection at Monk Fryston. Our initial site selection – and reasons behind the development of sites – has come down to grid connection availability and suitable land, both from an environmental & technical perspective and willing landowners.  

    Chapter 3 of the Environmental Statement (ES) includes more details regarding the site selection process and consideration of alternatives, including those nearer to the grid connection at Monk Fryston.  

  • No. We will not be including further sites in our application. If consented, we will only be able to construct what we have applied for as part of the DCO.   

    Furthermore, our solar sites and the associated electrical infrastructure will be sized and designed to efficiently fulfil our connection agreement.  This means our cable route will be used exclusively for transport of clean electricity from our solar sites to the grid, with no option for additional connections to be made by us or others.   

  • The first step in developing any solar project is to understand where there is available capacity in the local networks. Monk Fryston substation was established by National Grid as a suitable choice with the appropriate capacity.  Other connections are not available at a suitable scale or on a suitable timeframe to help meet the UK’s legally binding decarbonisation targets. 

  • The Cable Route Corridor (CRC) shown on our plans represents the areas within which the construction of the underground grid connection cables to transfer electricity from the Solar PV Sites to the National Grid Substation will be located.

    The CRC has been refined as the project design has developed, determined through reviewing technical and environmental constraints along the routes. This includes avoiding ecological designations, mature and historic woodland, scheduled monuments, listed buildings and conservation areas. It also includes minimising the length of the route where possible, the number of road and rail crossings, watercourse crossings and hedgerow crossings.  

    The land use for the CRC totals 328.5 ha, however this use is temporary in nature, with the land returned to its previous use and condition following completion of the cabling works.

  •  A temporary haul road has been proposed for the construction phase of the cable corridor to ease pressure on local routes and traffic during the installation of the underground cables.  This will be reinstated along with the rest of the cable route after the cable is installed. 

  • Our approach to design is to mitigate the impact of the project on the environment and protect local wildlife. We will typically recommend wooden posts and metal wire stock fencing, common in agricultural settings, with a maximum height of 2.5m to create a boundary around the solar farm. This will include small gaps at the bottom of the fence to allow for the safe passage of small animals across and beyond the site boundaries. 

     

    Certain infrastructure will need a higher standard of fencing for safety and security reasons so the BESS (Battery Energy Storage System), Substations and some 33kV Sub-distribution Switch Rooms would be surrounded by palisade fencing, likely at a maximum height of 3m. It is expected that the final location of the fencing will be finalised as part of the detailed design which would be secured through a DCO Requirement.  

  • Yes, battery energy storage systems are considered safe when properly designed, installed, and maintained. Modern battery energy storage systems incorporate several safety features to prevent issues such as overheating, short-circuiting, or fires. These include thermal management systems, built-in sensors, and monitoring software to detect and address potential problems early. We follow best practice design principles for all of our solar and BESS projects, which include maintaining minimum offsets of 100m between battery installations and residential properties, much further than UK fire service guidance requires. This ensures we protect the safety and well-being of local residents.   

    The batteries in BESS developments typically use technology commonly found in mobile phone batteries. When installed in large quantities for a BESS site, additional safety measures are developed in consultation with the local Fire Services, Environment Agency, local authorities, and regulators. Each project proposal will include a comprehensive battery safety management plan submitted as part of a planning application for review.   

  • Yes, any roads used for access by construction vehicles will remain usable and accessible for the community. Roads and access points we are proposing for the solar sites are detailed further in ES Chapter 14: Traffic and Movement.  We reviewed options in light of feedback received and, through a Transport Assessment, assessed potential traffic impacts, including consideration of cumulative impacts with other developments.

    Following this, we produced the outline Construction Traffic Management Plan (oCTMP), submitted alongside the ES as part of the DCO Application. The oCTMP sets out a number of mitigation measures to help smoothen out how construction traffic moves to and from the sites, including speed limits, exclusion times and temporary traffic measures.

  • Solar farms can be placed on land where there is a flood risk. However, it is important that any project is designed effectively to ensure this is safe and effective.   

    As part of our environmentally focused design, we’ve carefully planned the layout of the site to avoid placing key infrastructure, like substations and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) areas, in places that are at higher risk of flooding (Flood Zones 2 and 3), wherever possible. This helps reduce the risk of flooding affecting the development. All potential BESS areas are located outside Flood Zones 2 and 3 to protect natural floodplains and lower the risk of flooding. Similarly, all substations are planned to be built outside Flood Zone 3. Where possible, these will be placed in Flood Zone 1 (the lowest risk), and only in Flood Zone 2 if no better option is available. These decisions are based on detailed flood modelling to make sure the site layout is safe and sustainable. 

  • Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is a requirement that makes sure habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before development. 

    Buffer zones and larger areas within the Solar Development Sites provide opportunities for habitat creation, specifically for the benefit of wildlife.  The Application also includes a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Report which sets out that Light Valley Solar is likely to deliver a biodiversity gain of at least 70% BNG, including 78.58% for habitats, 73% for hedgerows and 10.42% for watercourses, based on current design proposals.

  • We are a signatory to the Solar Stewardship Initiative and committed to designing solar projects that have minimal impact on the environment, including by recycling and repurposing as much as is possible of the materials used on site.    

    Well over 90% of materials in solar panels are recyclable and there are several established businesses that do this. Companies such as PV Cycle (pvcycle.org.uk) and Recycle Solar (recyclesolar.co.uk) can manage faulty or expired solar panels. We expect these sorts of businesses to continue to grow over time, in direct proportion to the increasing number of solar panels that are deployed across the UK.  

    At the end of the project, as part of the Development Consent Order (DCO) there will be a comprehensive decommissioning plan. We anticipate that materials will be recycled in line with best practice waste management measures available at the time of decommissioning.   

  •   Light Valley Solar will not require any public money, subsidies or funding. This is one of the benefits of solar, compared to other forms of renewable (and non-renewable) energy generation – if the site is commercially viable, and costs are as expected, projects like Light Valley Solar can be viably delivered by private investment with no impact to the taxpayer.     

    Energy projects, once operational, can receive a fixed price for electricity through the government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which also limits profits as any income above the fixed price is returned to the government. The development, construction and decommissioning of Light Valley Solar is and would be privately funded.  

    Furthermore, the proposals for Light Valley Solar include a community benefit package, which we seek to provide to the local area. We invite your ideas and suggestions to determine the specifics of this fund, which will be decided as we move forward.