By Matt Drake

A solar farm brought into community ownership is being turned into a haven for wildlife while also funding other green projects.

Kent Community Energy (KCE) took over a 5MW site in Bobbing, near Sittingbourne, in December 2023 after raising £176,100 of investments through a crowdfunding campaign.

The solar farm, along Stickfast Lane and Iwade Road, was built on grazing land previously used for brick extraction and consists of 20,000 panels which produce enough energy to power around 1,725 homes.

It neighbours a site run by another community energy group - Orchard Community Energy - which owns the 5MW Orchard Solar Farm.

Both have been supplying the national grid since 2016.

But, on top of the clean and cheap energy it is producing, KCE is keen to use the site to boost biodiversity too.

The group has an improvement plan and budget that has been grant-funded by Power to Change, a charitable trust with a £150 million endowment from the National Lottery Community Fund.

It comes after, across the UK, people expressed concerns about proposed solar farms and the impact they will have on the countryside.

Last week, we reported how Balfour Vineyard had voiced its opposition to a huge solar array in the Weald of Kent, fearing it could harm biodiversity and potentially affect its grape production.

Michael Bax, managing director of KCE, said: "The starting position on any solar farm is that it needs to give an increase in biodiversity as part of the Planning Act.

“In most cases, sadly, when it comes to greenfield development – whether it's for houses or solar farms – it's not very difficult to increase biodiversity because if you have a field full of wheat, you've just got wheat.

"We found that the site was not being actively managed for nature. It was not harmful, but in our view, it needed things to enhance our performance to meet our legal obligations and also to meet our ambitions.

“The areas under panels as well as between the panels and the fence will promote biodiversity in terms of grasslands, to create a wildflower-rich environment of pollinating plants, primarily in the area between the panels and the outside.

"We had to establish a hedgerow around the site and new stands of trees in areas that didn't impact the sunshine.”

KCE has also ensured there are habitable environments for birds and those that are nesting aren't damaged when the fields are cut.

It also plans to add boxes for owls as well as small mammals.

One suggestion has been to add field mouse houses called hibernaculums and the group is also analysing whether it is feasible to create a pond for crested newts.

Michael added: "After the measures we have taken so far, it is a beneficial place for animals already.

“It is a quiet place where you don't see human beings – apart from two or three times a month.

"You can hear birds, you can see evidence of animals, and we've seen evidence for foxes as well as a badger."

Over the next 20 years, KCE anticipates that the 5MW project will generate around £2 million of community benefit fund, which will support sustainable energy initiatives across the whole county.

The group also plans to include educational visits for school groups to raise environmental awareness and to install boxes for birds and mammals.

Michael said: "All of our profits are dedicated to benefiting local people.

“Some of that could be creating new renewable energy projects, such as putting solar panels on community buildings around Kent.

"We have an active programme of about £400,000 worth of building projects in Tenterden, Maidstone and Hythe, as well as Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway.

"We also have a grant programme where the rest of our profits are dedicated to projects that benefit climate change, tackle energy poverty, promote energy efficiency and protect biodiversity."