A MASSIVE solar farm could soon bolster the town’s green credentials.

The project to build a five megawatt capacity solar farm consisting of approximately 17,000 solar panels is being planned at Roves Farm, Sevenhampton, by owners Rupert and Joanna Burr.

The scheme, which will stretch across about 30 acres of land in two fields immediately to the west of the Roves Farm buildings, is the largest eligible for support under the new Government incentive scheme known as the “Feed-In Tariff” announced last year.

The farmer is now hosting an open meeting to discuss the plans next Tuesday.

Rupert, who has run Roves Farm since 1992, said: “At long last the Government has come up with a scheme that gives sufficient support for some renewable energy technologies to get going.

“We are still awaiting an announcement for renewable heat, which we hope will enable some of our plans for biomass projects to become established too.

“This is an exciting development that we have spent several months investigating and our chosen partners, AEE Renewables, have extensive knowledge of developing solar farms in Germany – which has a very similar solar irradiation level to this part of the UK.

“I am Swindon born and bred and I care about this town. If this is going to go ahead I think everyone wants to see the best development possible.”

Rupert said the fields earmarked for the solar farm are completely surrounded by hedgerows, trees and willow crops, which will completely screen the panels from every direction. The power generated by the panels will be fed into the existing power lines that cross the field, and the grass under the panels will still be used as grazing land for animals. The open meeting will be led by AEE Renewables and if weather conditions permit, there will be two walks, or tractor and trailer rides, laid on for people to see the fields where the project is being proposed.

It will be held at Roves Farm Visitor Centre from 1pm to 7pm.

Anyone can attend between these hours and there is no need to book.