As the local chapter of Extinction Rebellion, we are generally in support of solar power. We would prefer to see community owned schemes, where decision making and profits are kept locally. But in general we support solar schemes.
Normally we would support a solar farm but in the Longmarsh development case the solar farm is to solely power the AI data centre, which is a waste of energy and resources, so we can’t support these plans.
Other AI data centres (e.g Nscale in Essex or Cobalt Park in Tyneside) are getting permission but construction not being completed, why build more when things aren’t getting finished? Where is the evidence for the demand and the need for more capacity? Any growth in AI is simply an economic bubble which will burst sooner or later, making an AI data centre like this redundant.
In principle we support renewable energy in order to stop using fossil fuels as the only way to urgently tackle climate change. We’ve all seen how vulnerable we are to price spikes from the uncertainty of oil and gas markets, residents urgently need protecting from that through local renewable energy.
There needs to be clarity in the plans on protection of nature in and around the affected area including the effects of noise, as well as ensuring that water use will not put local residents or water sources at risk.
If this was a solar farm solely to feed back into the grid, and therefore benefit residents, then we could support it. As that’s not the case, we can’t.
