Energy minister Baroness Margaret Curran has granted development consent for the Great North Road Solar and Biodiversity Park in Nottinghamshire, a scheme combining a solar photovoltaic generating station, battery energy storage and grid connection infrastructure with a maximum capacity of 800MW.
Curran, a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, took the decision on behalf of the Energy Secretary on Tuesday. The development consent order comes into force on 18 November.
From application to consent
Elements Green Trent Limited submitted the application to the Planning Inspectorate on 27 June 2025 and it was accepted for examination on 22 July 2025. During the six-month examination, members of the public, councils, statutory consultees and other interested parties were able to give evidence, and the examining authority made its recommendations to the government on 28 July 2026.
The Planning Inspectorate said the scheme was the 117th energy application out of 185 it has examined to date, and that the examination was again completed within the statutory timescale.
What happens next
Consent does not mean the park is ready to generate power. The developer says it is now working through the requirements attached to the consent before building can begin, with construction anticipated around spring 2027 and a construction programme still to be confirmed.
