Lime Down Solar Park

03 June 2025

A stage of targeted consultation on some localised changes we are proposing to our plans for Lime Down Solar Park will run from Tuesday 03 June to Friday 11 July 2025. The changes comprise:

Six areas to enable the temporary highway and traffic works that would be required to safely accommodate the Abnormal Indivisible Load (AIL) vehicles needed during the construction phase of the Project.

Nine areas where the proposed development boundary area has been adjusted to enable access to and within the Project site, and to avoid constraints such as woodland and hedgerows.

We have also indicatively identified an initial preferred Cable Route Search Corridor, as a result of an initial review of feedback, as well as further design work and findings from ongoing environmental assessments. Click anywhere on this text to read our latest Project update in full.

Welcome

Island Green Power is developing proposals to build a new solar and energy storage project on land in Wiltshire, with associated infrastructure to connect it to the national grid.

The electricity generated by the proposed solar park would be exported via an underground cable connection into the existing national electricity transmission system at Melksham substation.

The project is anticipated as being able to deliver up to 500 megawatts (MW) of renewable electricity through ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV panels). This is enough clean, affordable electricity to power approximately 115,000 homes every year.

The way we consume energy is changing. The move towards renewables and the transition away from fossil fuels is an environmental and economic necessity. National electricity demand is increasing and expected to double by 2050. Increasing our solar energy capacity is therefore essential if the UK is to hit its target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 while also meeting demand.

Solar power is a clean, homegrown source of energy that gets power into the system and people’s homes faster than any other renewable technology. The Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, published in 2024, sets out the target to more than treble solar power by 2030, equivalent to around 50 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity.

Expected to deliver clean and affordable energy, the Project would contribute to the Government target to deliver a cheaper, zero-carbon electricity system by 2030 and accelerate to net zero.

The amount of electricity Lime Down Solar Park could generate exceeds 50MW. It is therefore classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). The development consenting regime for a NSIP comes under the Planning Act 2008. This means to get permission to build and operate the solar park we need to apply to the Planning Inspectorate for a Development Consent Order (DCO). We anticipate submitting our application to the Planning Inspectorate in Autumn 2025.

Our progress so far

From 03 June to 11 July 2025, we are holding a targeted consultation on fifteen minor changes to our plans for Lime Down Solar Park compared to the boundary presented during our previous consultation in January to March 2025.

These localised changes are minor in nature and scale, each comprising an addition to the development boundary area of between 0.03 hectares (ha) and 0.69 ha. To find out more, please visit our Targeted Consultation webpage linked here.

You can also find out more about the targeted consultation by attending our online information event on Thursday 19 June 2025, from 18:30 to 20:00. Please click here to register to attend.

The targeted consultation is not another phase of statutory consultation pursuant to Section 47 and Section 48 of the Planning Act 2008. It relates specifically to the fifteen specific increases to the Project development boundary presented for Stage Two Consultation, which is why it is considered ‘targeted’.

On 03 June 2025, we also published and posted a Summer Newsletter to local communities and key stakeholders to keep people up to date as we prepare for application submission later this year. Please click here to read the Summer Newsletter.

In the Newsletter, we provide an update on how our plans for the Project are progressing so far, including an indicative preferred Cable Route Search Corridor that we have identified within the Corridor area presented in our Stage Two Consultation. We are continuing work to identify suitability, and the Cable Route Search Corridor will be further refined before we submit our application for development consent to the Planning Inspectorate.

Click here to visit our webpage Connecting to the grid for more information on our preferred Cable Route Search Corridor. If you would like to search for a specific location and see how it relates to the site, please click here to visit our webpage The Project – Overview, where you can use our zoomable interactive map.

You can register your contact details if you would like us to send you Project updates straight to your inbox by clicking here.