FAQs

Anyone who is interested in the Scheme is welcome to take part in our targeted consultation. We welcome all views and will take them into account before our application for development consent is submitted in early 2026.

You can find more details of how to participate and provide your feedback can be found in the targeted consultation information booklet, found on the Documents page.

The government has set ambitious climate change targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions and ensure that the energy supply remains secure, reliable, and affordable. The government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan highlights the importance of achieving 45-47 GW of solar power by 2030 to reduce carbon emissions and the dependence on imported energy.

Kingsway Solar has the potential to accelerate the UK’s transition to net zero and make a significant contribution towards achieving the government’s targets, while also increasing national energy security at a time of both rising energy bills and the increasing urgency to tackle the climate emergency.

Decarbonisation is a UK legal requirement and is of global significance. As established in the National Policy Statement for Energy (NPS EN-1), there is an urgent demonstrated need and critical national priority for low carbon and renewable energy infrastructure, which includes solar development at a national scale. The National Policy Statement for Electricity Networks (NPS EN-5) also states it is the government’s position that overhead lines should be the strong starting presumption for electricity networks in general and EN-1 establishes that there is a critical national priority for electricity grid infrastructure, including those associated with the development of a project like Kingsway Solar.

Solar developments play a crucial role in the UK’s energy landscape, especially in meeting renewable energy targets outlined in key government policies such as the NPSs.

Solar energy schemes can contribute significantly to reducing carbon emissions, increasing energy security, and promoting a greener future for the UK, supporting the decarbonisation of transport and heat sectors, through electrification.

As a Scheme, Kingsway Solar is committed to helping to realise the benefits of solar technology. We also understand the local sensitivities and are committed to developing our plans in a considerate and sensitive way.

The most important factor in the site selection process is the capacity of the electricity network to connect new renewable energy generation. We have undertaken an iterative approach to site selection for the solar PV development areas, and a further three stage approach to identifying and selecting the preferred connection corridor between the development areas and the National Grid substation. More information is detailed within our Consultation Information Booklet, which can be found in the Documents page.

The three principal development areas where solar panels and BESS would be located comprises an area of 1,246 hectares (3,079 acres) of predominantly agricultural land.

Our ongoing technical and design work would help determine how much land would be needed to host solar panels and associated infrastructure, and where it would be located within the development areas. You can see the initial design in the interactive map available on The Scheme page.

We are committed to making a positive contribution to Cambridgeshire and beyond through opportunities for community benefit.

We believe communities living closest to the Scheme should benefit from it and we’re keen to understand your views on how a community benefit fund could be used. While the final sum for our community benefit fund will rely heavily on the final Scheme design post stage two consultation and what commitments are required through documents such as the Environmental Statement , it is likely that around £300,000 per year could be available for community benefits for the life time of the Scheme (approximately £12 million in total should the Scheme go ahead).

Early suggestions from the stage one consultation included suggestions for funding towards:

• Improving and maintaining local Public Rights of Way (PRoW) and green travel networks, i.e. cycle lanes, walking routes and more public transport
• Delivering new green spaces for community use
• Improvements to existing community facilities, such as village halls and recreation grounds
• Improvement and maintenance of conservation areas, for example wildlife corridors or areas with enhanced vegetation planting
• Subsidised solar PV panels and electric vehicle charging points for community use and lower cost energy
• Providing extra funding for local education facilities
• Installing rooftop solar on local buildings
• Improving the quality of existing road infrastructure
• Supporting existing community groups or initiatives

We are currently investigating how a community benefit fund could be managed and delivered independently. There are different ways of doing this, such as appointing a community foundation which would independently manage the fund on Kingsway Solar Farm Limited’s behalf, and/or distributing the fund between local parish and town councils.

Funding could also be provided directly for educational purposes, such as to local schools and for courses at higher education. Given the proposed scale of investment from the Scheme, it will likely mean a mix of all types of delivery vehicles will be implemented to ensure as wide a cross section of the community as possible will see direct benefits from the Scheme and experience a positive impact, beyond the national energy generation and transition to net zero.

Whilst the types of community benefit mentioned above would not form part of our application and cannot be taken into account in the determination of the application, this stage two consultation will be important in helping us to understand what local schemes or projects could be supported to benefit the communities located closest to the Scheme.

We’re inviting your continued views on how community benefit could be made available through our Scheme and how it could be administered and managed.

Kingsway Solar is subject to being granted development consent form the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. Should it be granted development consent, the construction phase could start in 2028 at the earliest. We anticipate that construction phase is likely to take between 24 to 36 months in duration.

We are anticipating that the Scheme would be fully operational from 2030 at the earliest, and would generate clean energy for 40 years from the date of final commissioning. Decommissioning will commence after the 40 year timeframe has ended.

Feedback received during stage one consultation, along with our ongoing engagement with local authorities, parish councils and other interested parties, including statutory consultees, has helped to shape our more detailed proposals that we presented as part of our stage two consultation. In our Consultation Information Booklet, we have detailed the key themes received to the stage one consultation, and our response on how we’re working to address and incorporate feedback in our developing design. This can be found in the Documents page.

Since March 2025, we have been in contact with landowners and occupiers within the vicinity of the project to request access to land for a series of environmental surveys. We would like to confirm your contact details and identify who else has an interest in the land so we can ensure we are talking to the right people. This will help ensure we can provide you with further details of the project in the future and enable you to have the opportunity to comment on our proposals.

To support the development of Kingsway Solar, we need to undertake surveys. The scope of surveys is detailed in our initial letter to you in the section titled ‘What surveys are required?’ We’ve asked you to complete our Access Request Form and Land Interest Questionnaire(s) which were issued to you with our initial letter.

We have created a dedicated frequently asked questions document to assist landowners and occupiers who we have been in contact with to request access to their land for the purpose of surveys. This can be found on our project website: Kingsway-Solar_Land-access-requests-FAQ_July-2025.pdf

If you have any further questions, please get in direct contact with the land team appointed by Kingsway Solar by emailing uk-kingsway.solar@wsp.com or calling 0207 337 1790.