The planned Barkham Solar Fam project is expected to be generating electricity and income by Spring 2027.
The update was revealed at a recent full council meeting on Wokingham borough council when Cllr Peter Harper asked Cllr Katrin Harding, the executive councillor for environment and climate emergency for an expected date for the project to be generating electricity and revenue for the council, and any changes to the cost to deliver the project from the original business case?
She said: “The Barkham Solar Farm is expected to be generating electricity and much needed revenue for the council from spring 2027.
“This has been delayed, and is due to a delay in receiving information from SSEN which was required to finalise the design.
“This has been further exacerbated by the fact that due to technical constraints on the network, SSEN are not able to connect a solar farm to the grid in the winter months, between October – April.
“The updated business case, including latest estimates on delivery costs and income, will be presented to the climate emergency overview and scrutiny committee in November, in advance of the signing of the construction contract, which we hope to sign early in 2026.
“I look forward to your scrutiny and comments at that meeting.
“The updated programme for the solar farm has been published on our website since early August. Regular meetings of the cross-party project board provide regular updates to members of all parties, and I understand that officers met with you last week to go through any questions that you have.
“This delay to generating the electricity and revenue for the Council is regrettable, but I assure you that myself and officers are working hard to ensure that the time is well used in making the project even more robust.”
“I think we can have good confidence in the date.
“I am not a solar electrician, but I understand that initial connection will happen first, and it can be a period of a number of months before full export and therefore income is coming in. I cannot say that Spring will be exactly when we are generating all the income, , but we certainly expect to be connected and to begin that process in Spring 2027.”
