Solar ban on farmland could cost £20bn

Plans to ban solar panels on swathes of UK farmland risks £20bn of investment, the sector has warned. The prime minister is expected to approve measures to curb the amount of land where solar arrays would be permitted. Chris Hewett, chief executive of industry trade body Solar Energy UK, said: “If the plan were implemented it would threaten 30GW-plus of projects currently being scoped for the second half of the decade – this could be over £20bn of capital investment into the UK energy sector.” Ranil Jayawardena, the environment secretary, has asked officials to extend the definition of “best and most versatile” land to include the 3b category, which is the agricultural land that most solar farms are built on. Boris Johnson said he wanted a fivefold increase in solar deployment by 2035, but Liz Truss has said fields should be full of “fantastic produce” and “should not be full of solar panels”. The Guardian The FT (£)