Renewable sites › Taunton Racecourse
Taunton Racecourse
Taunton Racecourse is an operational 1.5 MW solar farm in Somerset, generating since 15 March 2015. Planning permission was granted on 7 April 2014, 3 months after submission. Operator of record: Green Hedge (BayWa r.e.).
Planning and build timeline
| Application submitted | 9 January 2014 |
| Permission granted | 7 April 2014 3 months after submission |
| Operational | 15 March 2015 11 months after consent |
Screening a site of your own?
Somerset approves 86% 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 Taunton Racecourse’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 — Tone Catchment
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.
Somerset’s record on solar
Somerset has decided 147 solar farms and approved 86%, taking a median of 3 months. See every solar farm decision in Somerset →
Other built sites within 15 km
| Site | MW | Distance |
|---|---|---|
Battery · Operational | 30 | 5.5 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 5 | 7 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 1.5 | 7 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 7.5 | 8.1 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 4.8 | 8.1 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 4.8 | 8.3 km |
Solar Photovoltaics · Operational | 5 | 8.3 km |
Landfill Gas · Operational | 2.4 | 8.6 km |
How big is Taunton Racecourse?
Taunton Racecourse has a recorded installed capacity of 1.5 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 Taunton Racecourse?
REPD records the operator as Green Hedge (BayWa r.e.). 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 Taunton Racecourse approved and built?
The application was submitted on 9 January 2014. Permission was granted on 7 April 2014, 3 months later. The site became operational on 15 March 2015, 11 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 1509.
Novarly Parcel · official public data, read properly · parcel.novarly.com
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