Cleve Hill Solar Park (formerly Project Fortress) is a

photovoltaic power station A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

under construction on the Graveney marshes between

Faversham Faversham () is a market town in Kent, England, from Sittingbourne, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2 road (Great ...

and

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent, England, at the convergence of the The Swale, Swale and the Greater Thames Estuary, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay, Kent, Herne Bay. The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Se ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in the UK. Once operational, it will be the largest solar farm in the UK, generating 373 MW of electricity from of

solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

s, and will also include 150 MW (possibly with 700 MWh energy) of

battery storage A battery energy storage system (BESS), battery storage power station, battery energy grid storage (BEGS) or battery grid storage is a type of energy storage technology that uses a group of batteries in the grid to store electrical energy. Batte ...

. Because of its size, it is a

nationally significant infrastructure project In England and Wales, a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) is a major infrastructure development that bypasses Planning permission in the United Kingdom, normal local planning requirements. These include proposals for power pla ...

so outside the standard local planning procedure. Electricity will be exported from the project via the 400 kV National Grid

substation A substation is a part of an electrical Electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission, and electric power distribution, distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or pe ...

at Cleve Hill, constructed to serve the

London Array The London Array is a 175-turbine 630 MW Round 2 offshore wind farm located off the Kent coast in the outer Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom. It was the largest offshore wind farm in the world until Walney Extension reached full pr ...

offshore wind farm that lies to the north. A battery array will be placed at the substation, charging from the sunlight during the day and release the energy at night when it is needed.

History

The solar farm was initially developed in partnership by Hive Energy and Wirsol Energy Ltd under the name Cleve Hill Solar Farm. It was acquired by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners in October 2021 and renamed Project Fortress. The of Grade 3b agricultural land will be covered by the fixed-angle east-west facing solar photovoltaic panels. By 2020, the planning process faced opposition by residents and environmental groups on the grounds of

loss of biodiversity Biodiversity loss happens when plant or animal species disappear completely from Earth (extinction) or when there is a decrease or disappearance of species in a specific area. Biodiversity loss means that there is a reduction in biological dive ...

resulting from covering large areas with PV panels, and safety, where concerns were raised about a possible fire and explosion of the battery blocks. Construction on the project started in April 2023. A £238.5 million partial funding was achieved in 2025.

Gallery

Ditches on Graveney marshes - geograph.org.uk - 617077.jpg, Ditches on the Graveney marsh Entrance to Cleve Hill Substation Construction Site - geograph.org.uk - 1418009.jpg, Construction of the sub-station 2009

References

External links

Official site
{{Solar power in the United Kingdom Solar power in the United Kingdom Kent Electric power infrastructure in England Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (United Kingdom)

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links