Southill Solar signs

Mon 11 Jul 2016, 12:41

Yes, the poppies have been great!

Mon 11 Jul 2016, 12:00

Hi Alan - I hope at least that you have enjoyed the poppies.

Mon 11 Jul 2016, 11:33

Many thanks, Als. I must admit I find WODC's apparent deeply cavalier attitude to the interests of neighbours disappointing, but that is my problem not yours! Your comments on the schedule for piling are very good news, however - I thought you were talking about 3 weeks, rather than 3 days! Any clarification on the timetable for this would be appreciated as soon as possible.

Mon 11 Jul 2016, 10:16

Hi Alan. Apologies for the slow response, I was waiting for a reply from WODC with regards to the working hours on site. We have agreed with WODC that our contractors will be working on site during the construction period from 8am to 7pm Monday to Saturday. We understand from WODC that the guideline hours from WODC's leaflet is for sites where there is an immediate neighbour within close proximity to the building work. WODC have confirmed that this is not the case for Southill Solar and actually have pointed out the longer working hours may be favourable to many as it means that the construction period is kept to a minimum. In terms of the noise from piling - the current schedule, which is yet to be finalised, shows that piling will occur on site at the end of August for approximately 3 days. The background noise of the Fawler Rd and the distance between your property and the piling (approx 200m) will mean that any piling noise is unlikely to be disruptive. Finally, you will see from the construction traffic management plan that we expect a maximum of two large vehicles accessing the site during the day, which is not considered to be a material change to the normal traffic load of the Fawler Road. I hope this answers your questions. Would you like to meet offline to discuss anything further? With best wishes, Als

Thu 7 Jul 2016, 22:43

Thanks for this info, Liz. If you are talking to the contractor about working hours then I hope you will tell them what the local authority considers reasonable, as I set out below.

I must admit I am concerned when I read comments that construction is unlikely to be noisy, though. In another case that I have seen, the solar farm constructor wrote to local residents warning about the likelihood of noise from delivery traffic and especially from piling, and when this was expected to occur, which seems to me a much more realistic approach than pretending there won't be significant noise. I know from simply bashing in a couple of posts in my own garden that the noise echoes all round the valley, and I can't believe this won't be the case when there are hundreds of posts requiring piling.

Wed 6 Jul 2016, 21:20

Hi Alan. Putting together a project of this nature involves bringing together funds and being subject to due diligence by lenders. There is no set timetable though obviously we are moving just as fast we can and are aiming to reach financial close before the end of July, when we will also want to sign a contract with the contractor. That's why it is difficult to set a specific date until all these elements of the project are complete.
There are two forms of subsidy for renewables - the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) and Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs. Our original intention was to use the FIT subsidy which would require us to be generating by 6 September. However, the government issued a consultation document in March and we learned that our project also qualified for ROCs, with a slightly higher income. The deadline for the project under ROCs in not actually until 31st March 2017. We are still aiming to start construction in August if we can, but we no longer need to work to the very tight timetable of 6th September.
We are talking to the contractor about working hours and will get back to you. Construction of the site is unlikely to be noisy, and will be over in a matter of weeks.

Wed 6 Jul 2016, 10:04

Sorry, I have another question about the development. Can you provide any assurance to the people of Charlbury that planned construction work will be limited to the working times suggested for projects of any size in WODC's leaflet on "Noise and other nuisances during building projects", ie 7.30am-6pm Mon-Fri and 8am-1pm on Saturday (with no noisy working on Sundays or public holidays)?

Tue 5 Jul 2016, 16:43

Are you able to provide any more details on the timetable? Every time I hear a target completion date it seems to be later than the previous one, and we were told at one of the public meetings that there was an absolute deadline of the beginning of September since if the project wasn't generating by then it wouldn't be eligible for the rate of subsidy that it was pre-registered for.

Tue 5 Jul 2016, 14:48

We wanted to thank you all for hosting our Southill Solar signs in your windows and gardens over the past few months! We are delighted to close the share offer today having raised the finance that we need to move forwards and get the solar farm built. I will be collecting the signboards and banner over the next few days from your gardens and please feel free to take down window posters too. Now our focus is to get our own renewable energy power station built! - we are hoping to be up and running by 1st Oct 2016.