PLANS have been submitted for two solar farms in the Winchester district.

Developers want to build a large solar farm near Three Maids Hill - on a prominent site north of Winchester next to two main roads, and also on farmland north-east of Old Alresford near Armsworth.

The applicant Environoma Asset Management proposes a 45-hectare farm on four fields on arable downland between the A272 and A34 north of the Three Maids Hill interchange. It would generate up to 25 megawatts (MW), enough to power 8,965 homes.

As well as hundreds of solar panels there would be associated infrastructure including fencing, substations, storage containers and battery storage so the power generated could be sent to the National Grid at the most efficient times.

In a letter to Winchester City Council the agents Pegasus said of the proposal: “This aims to address the local and national renewable energy targets and ultimately reduce the reliance on fossil fuel-based sources as a form of energy production.”

For the solar farm near Armsworth, Anesco proposes one capable of generating approximately 10 MW of electricity for 40 years, enough to power 3,000 homes.

A proposal for a solar farm next to the A31 near Ropley Dene in the summer was withdrawn after the applicant gauged the strength of local opposition against a farm at that location.

Simon and Lucy James, of Old Alresford, told planners: “We are not against solar energy, far from it, but strongly believe it should be encouraged on brown field sites or on the roofs of new buildings not on green fields. The countryside is a very precious commodity in this day and age and we need to save and conserve what we have left.

"We need to save the planet but not at the expense of important landscapes.”