900 Acre Solar Farm Agreed for Kent Coast

The government has given a controversial plan for a solar farm the go ahead, with the mammoth 900 acre site set to be the country's largest array of panels by some margin; and requiring the biggest battery we've ever seen too.

25 of those acres have been set aside to house the energy storage facility, otherwise known as the massive battery. This is the element that's most concerning to protesters, as we're all well aware of the possibility of batteries catching on fire. A 25 acre battery catching on fire would be quite the sight to see, but only if you're at a safe distance, perhaps above it on the International Space Station.

Still, some environmental groups are happy about the new plan for the land, as it's currently hardcore intensive farmed and Friends of the Earth thinks green energy is a better use for it. A spokesperson for the group said: "No-one wants to see damage to local habitats, but this is not some lovely, untouched meadow. Changing the use of the site from intensive agriculture will reduce the high level of chemicals currently harming insects and wildlife – but we have to hold the developers to account."

The Cleve Hill Solar Park site at Graveney will host 900,000 photovoltaic panels, at the cost of around £450m to joint developers Hive Energy and Wirsol Energy. It'll pull 350MW of energy from the sky, enough to power 91,000 homes; and could be online by April of 2022, seeing as bashing up panels is a relatively proven tech. [BBC]