Renewable sites › Cowdown Lane
Cowdown Lane
Cowdown Lane is an operational 40 MW solar farm in Test Valley, generating since 23 March 2016. Planning permission was granted on 24 December 2015, 20 months after submission. Operator of record: Equitix.
Planning and build timeline
| Application submitted | 1 May 2014 |
| Permission granted | 24 December 2015 20 months after submission |
| Operational | 23 March 2016 3 months after consent |
Screening a site of your own?
Test Valley approves 95% of solar farms. Redline puts that number, and everything else the record holds, against your own boundary: the authority’s actual approval rate and decision times, every designation inside the red line, agricultural grade, 1 m LIDAR earthworks, how contested the grid is, and yield with a P90 — before you spend on a consultant.
Arrives prefilled with Cowdown Lane’s recorded coordinate — swap in your own postcode or coordinates.
What this site sits on
The recorded coordinate falls on land surveyed as Grade 3 agricultural land. The published survey does not split Grade 3 into 3a and 3b, so this alone does not settle whether the land counts as best and most versatile.
- Nutrient-neutrality catchment — Solent: Includes Chichester and Langstone Harbours SPA/Ramsar, Solent and Southampton Water SPA/Ramsar, Solent Maritime SAC, Portsmouth Harbour SPA/Ramsar
REPD gives one representative coordinate per scheme, not the site boundary, so this describes the point on record rather than the whole site — a large site can straddle a designation edge. Boundaries come from planning.data.gov.uk, which publishes for England only.
Test Valley’s record on solar
Test Valley has decided 37 solar farms and approved 95%, taking a median of 5 months. See every solar farm decision in Test Valley →
Other built sites within 15 km
| Site | MW | Distance |
|---|---|---|
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 4.2 | 4.5 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 7 | 5 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 7 | 5.1 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 5 | 5.6 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 5 | 6.2 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 5 | 6.6 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 5 | 6.6 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 49.9 | 6.8 km |
How big is Cowdown Lane?
Cowdown Lane has a recorded installed capacity of 40 MW. That figure is the capacity registered in REPD, which is the scheme as consented — the metered output of a site can differ.
Who operates Cowdown Lane?
REPD records the operator as Equitix. Ownership of built renewable assets changes hands regularly and REPD is published quarterly, so treat this as the operator of record rather than confirmation of who owns it today.
When was Cowdown Lane approved and built?
The application was submitted on 1 May 2014. Permission was granted on 24 December 2015, 20 months later. The site became operational on 23 March 2016, 3 months after consent.
Source: Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD), Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Open Government Licence v3.0, plus planning designation boundaries from planning.data.gov.uk (England only). REPD is published quarterly and covers schemes of roughly 150 kW and above. Capacity is the installed capacity on record, not metered generation. Operator is the operator of record at the last extract, not confirmation of present ownership. Reference 1983.
Novarly Parcel · official public data, read properly · parcel.novarly.com
All sites · Screen your own site · Planning by council · Coal mining search by postcode