Renewable energy is intermittent, says Lincolnshire councillor

A senior Lincolnshire Councillor has said that renewable energy is “intermittent” and solar projects should not be located on high quality farmland.

Conservative county councillor Colin Davie made the comments during a discussion on the BBC Politics North programme.

The debate followed a decision by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to allow two solar farms to be built in Lincolnshire.

The government said that solar power was crucial to achieving net zero.

Projects at Mallard Pass, in Lincolnshire and Rutland, Gate Burton in Lincolnshire and Sunnica, in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, were approved by the Energy Secretary on 12 July.

According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the projects could create a total power of 1.4GW, enough to power 406,994 homes.

Mr Davie told the programme “there needs to be a balance between renewables”, adding “they are intermittent”.

He said he supported solar on brownfield sites and rooftops, but not on prime farmland.

One of the challenges the country faces is food security, Mr Davis said.

“We only produce 60% of our own food in this country,” he said.

“Lincolnshire has always been a prime producer of good quality food for the nation. So we’re right in saying that we want to protect that.”

Sally Jameson, the Labour MP for Doncaster Central, also appeared on the programme.

She said: “We, as a country, need to be in a position where we can keep our own lights turned on and keep our own businesses and homes running. And the only way we’re going to do that is by investing in renewable and clean fuel.”

Ann Forsaith, from the Leeds Green Party, said that the country had known there was a problem with fossil fuels for decades.

“We need to look at the bigger picture here,” she said. “We need this electricity, we need the energy, we need to be able to capture the solar energy.”