Solar panels could be installed at a park and ride site between the Reading and Wokingham border.
Wokingham Borough Council is looking to install three solar farms across the borough as part of its plans for a net carbon zero borough by 2030.
A report to Wokingham Borough Council’s climate emergency and scrutiny committee meeting reveals a new location of one of the farms as the Park and Ride at Mereoak, Grazeley.
Near Three Mile Cross in Reading, the authority is consulting with Reading Borough Council to ensure the operations are ‘not unduly impacted’.
A planning application is set to be put to the council by the end of this year, with construction taking place the year after.
The executive report says the project would be complete by July 2026 and once complete, it would generate around 1.2 million KWh of energy.
Three projects are set to be delivered by the council by 2030 – the largest being in Barkham.
Last year the council announced the farm, consisting of 72,000 solar panels, will be delivered a decade earlier than planned.
The authority has appointed Equans as its main contractor and main construction works are set to begin this summer.
Once complete, it is expected to bring in about £500,000 per year and will generate in excess of 29 MWp of energy.
In 2021, tenant cattle farmer Andrew Lake was told to leave to make way for the solar farm. Wokingham Borough Council said the land would be returned to agricultural use after 25 years, at the end of the solar farm’s lifecycle.
A third solar farm site, which has not been publicly identified, will be complete by 2030.
The executive report says there is ‘no significant pressure’ to design and finalise the project at this time, as technology could advance in coming years, meaning a costly re-design of the scheme.
It also mentions that if planning permission is sought now, this may well expire by the time works begin.
While initial feasibility work and option appraisals have identified a potential site, obligations with existing tenants means the council cannot announce the site.
This site has the capacity to generate in excess of 20 MWp of energy.
Wokingham Borough Council declared a climate emergency in 2019, drafting a plan to tackle climate change which included taking steps to generate more renewable energy.
The Mereoak park and ride first opened in 2015 after cooperation between Reading Borough Council and Wokingham Borough Council.
It runs services to central Reading and Royal Berkshire Hospital, stopping at Reading Green Park and the University of Reading.
