North and South Clifton residents share concerns over noisy invertors and buried cables for One Earth Solar Farm project

Residents of rural villages who could be surrounded by solar panels have raised further concerns about pollution and noise.

The 4,000 acre One Earth Solar Farm, which PS Renewables and Orsted propose to install on fields surrounding North Clifton and South Clifton, is currently in the pre-examination stage with the planning inspectorate, as it is a nationally significant infrastructure project.

Concerns have arisen due to a lack of detailed information about the location of inverters for the project, as they do not appear to be clearly pictured or given specific locations on the latest plans for the solar farm.

An action group of residents is working to seek answers to residents concerns and claims that “instead of providing the transparency expected at this point, the developer has yet to release some of the most important details about the project, leaving many feeling both disappointed and deeply concerned”.

The inverters emit noise, and in previous talks with residents the developers are said to have agreed to keep them at least 100m away from homes — but the lack of detail provided in plans since have left many concerned this won’t be upheld.

“We were told this development would be a partnership with the community, but how can we be expected to send in our final comments and concerns on something, when we’re not even told where some of the worst aspects of this will be?” said action group leader David White.

Among those most affected are Allan Jamieson and Rosalind Pickwell, who said: “Our property is one of the most affected by this solar farm application. They are planning to surround us on three sides with panels and inverters.

“We went to all the meetings regarding the plans and none of our questions were answered. We arranged for three of their representatives to visit us last summer to see how close and visible their equipment would be to our home and garden. They agreed and suggested that some panels could be moved, but this wasn’t for our benefit, but because our trees would block the sunlight from the panels… Now the final plans have been submitted, it is still unclear where these noisy inverters are to be situated, and very upsetting to think that our future enjoyment of living in our home where we have been for the last 37 years is in jeopardy.”

Another resident, Stephen Aldington, added: “We understand the need for a move to renewable energies and are not against solar farms per se. However we feel that One Earth have not really listened to residents and, despite, what was on the surface a decent consultation period, are doing little more than paying lip service to our concerns. The community is having this thrust upon us and feel like we have no control over what's coming which will, at the very least, be a lot of disruption.

“Our property will effectively become an island in a sea of panels and equipment — that in itself is bad enough but when we factor in the incessant background hum of the inverters, it's going to have a significant and detrimental effect on our quality of life. We were led to believe that the inverters and other large pieces of infrastructure would be well away from our property boundary but have seen no evidence that this is the case or has even been planned in that way.

“This lack of clarity only adds to the perception that One Earth do not care one bit about our concerns.”

The concerns have also been echoed by local leaders, who have criticised the lack of transparency and information offered to residents by the developers.

South Clifton Parish Council chairman, Gill Cobham, said: “Despite repeated requests since August 2024, One Earth Solar Farm has failed to provide the information we’ve been asking for, and that the community needs to fully understand the scope and impact of this project. This is very disappointing.”

Newly elected Nottinghamshire County councillor Janette Barlow, speaking prior to her election, added: “The community deserves answers. It’s time for the developer to be fully open and accountable for their promises and commitments.”

The project’s cabling has also elicited further pollution concerns.

Consultation documents for the project stated ‘cabling below ground is typically left in place after decommissioning, unless a need to remove it has been identified’, and a preliminary environmental information report added that ‘underground cables may remain in situ’.

A 7.5km corridor of 400kv cabling is to be laid across the site, to enable the solar farm to be connected to the National Grid.

David White said: “One Earth have said they wish to permanently bury what could be hundreds of kilometres of heavy duty electric cabling, and without the location of the inverters, it’s almost impossible for us to calculate how much cabling is involved here.

“What we do know is leaving a massive amount of polyethylene and copper cabling permanently in the ground should just not be allowed and we’re not aware of any other developers even suggesting something like this.”

An outline decommissioning management plan submitted as part of the application stated that buried on-site low voltage cables would be removed, while interconnecting medium voltage cables would either be removed or left in-situ if buried deep enough as to not interfere with normal agricultural operations.

The document further stated: “The mode of cable decommissioning for the grid connection and other underground cables will be dependent upon government policy and best practice at that time. Currently, the most environmentally acceptable option is leaving the cables in situ, as this avoids disturbance to overlying land and habitats and to neighbouring communities. Alternatively, the cables can be removed by opening the ground at regular intervals and pulling the cable through to the extraction point, avoiding the need to open cut the entire length of the cable route.”

Residents fear that if the larger cables were to remain buried, as the documents suggest they could be, they could decay and spread into watercourses and ecosystems in what is a ‘Drinking Water Protected Area’, as well as the nearby River Trent — which some cables would even be laid underneath.

One Earth was approached by the Advertiser for comment but did not respond.