Ringmer solar farm: OVESCO director says village could become a 'leading parish' in the flight against climate change

Chris Rowland, director of community interest company OVESCO, told SussexWorld that Ringmer could become a ‘leading parish’ as the Lewes District begins to take steps towards the goal of carbon neutrality.

Chris said: “I think Ringmer has a huge opportunity here. They’ve got King's Academy which is an exemplar school with renewable energy on it. They've got OVESCO, a local energy co-operative, that's putting solar panels on roofs and played a part in building a solar farm south of Chichester. They could become a leading parish to decarbonise the Lewes District.”

Last week, OVESCO submitted plans to Lewes District Council for Ouse Valley Solar Farm.

The solar farm is expected to generate up to 17MW of clean renewable energy, the equivalent to the annual electrical needs of approximately 4,800 family homes.

Earlier this week, Lewes MP Maria Caulfield claimed the solar farm, being built on the land east of Uckfield Road, would take out highly-valuable agricultural land at a time when the district needed to increase domestic food production.

Ms Caulfield said it seemed a ‘strange decision’, especially when there are multiple brownfield sites locally.

However, Chris Rowland said the solar farm would increase the biodiversity on the land by 234%.

Chris said: “We have done testing on the site, we ‘ve taken core samples from all over that site. It revealed that it was grade 3b, which is suitable for a solar farm.

" In the past it has been intensively farmed. Last year it was for sweetcorn which is not the greatest crop, in fact it sucks all the nutrients out of the ground and if you go there and you put your hand in the soil and have a look at it there’s nothing living in there.

“Whereas if you go to a solar farm - there are bees, wildlife and flowers growing around the perimeter of the solar farms and underneath the solar farm as well.

“It should increase biodiversity by 234%, so there will be things to encourage wildlife like bats and birds.

“I completely understand that food security is important. Energy and food security are at the forefront of the news. It will power 4,800 and we need that electricity to power our fridges and our freezers. Air conditioning units in the summer and providing energy to process food which we all eat at the end of the day.”

Maria Caulfield also said residents in Ringmer were ‘furious’ that they would not benefit from the energy the farm would create, stating it was believed this would be used to power the new Phoenix Quarter in Lewes.

Chris said OVESCO would ‘love’ to supply energy directly to Ringmer, but the rules put in place by Ofgem – the government regulator for the electricity – means the energy generated must be sold to a third-party utility company.

However, he said no official agreement was in place to sell the energy to Phoenix Quarter development.

Chirs told SussexWorld: “I would love to sell the energy directly to the residents of Ringmer. The rules that Ofgem have in place mean that I have to sell that through a third party, a utility company. Who then can supply electricity to the residents. We are exploring many different options, but there are rules around how you can do this and this is all changing because of renewables.

“In regards to the Phoenix Quarter devlopment. There is no agreement or anything to supply them with electricity. We will go to the market place and find out where the best deal is, that will create the largest community benefit fund and payback community investors and make sure that is secure. That is the only way we can do this at the moment.

“If they approached us and wanted to buy some of the energy, I don’t think they would be able to consume all of it, 20% they might want to buy. There is the potential for us to have that conversation with them in the future.”

Chris also stated the solar farm would allow Ringmer residents to invest in the project and benefit from any profits made from the farm.

He said: “They [residents] can buy bonds or shares in it and they would be paid interest as investors. Also, we are looking to allow members who can’t invest to have a say on how that project will benefit them through a community benefit fund. So any profit after we have paid back the bank and our shareholders doesn't come to OVESCO.

“There are some running costs for the solar farm that have to be covered. Any profit after that will go into a community benefit fund. There will be a bored that will be selected who will decide how that money is distributed. That will go to the residents of the Lewes District.”

Residents were invited to three public consultation events that were held in November 2021, where OVESCO’s project team presented plans and took questions regarding the draft proposal.

In response to several issues raised during the public consultation process, recent amendments to the scheme design have included the removal and setting back of parts of the solar array in consideration of local viewpoints.

Chris said: “In our consultation there were more people in favour, than against this project. I think there is some misinformation around the site and we would be very happy to speak to residents about that on an individual basis and our MP as well to make sure they understand how this project is going to work.

“Unfortunately I think the people in Ringmer have been stirred up a bit and I would like to do everything I can to make that right.”

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