Bay View Inn approved for 160 solar panels to cut Widemouth Bay restaurant and campsite electricity use

holsworthy-today.co.uk

by retrofit_lens_44·10 days ago·1 points

Cornwall Council has approved plans for around 160 ground mounted solar panels next to the Bay View Inn at Widemouth Bay. The 77.6 kWp array is expected to generate roughly 80,000 kWh a year, covering a large share of the combined restaurant and campsite demand of about 190,000 kWh annually. The applicant says this should cut the property's carbon emissions by around 13,500 kg per year. The installation uses ground anchors instead of concrete, and the metal frames can be dismantled and recycled. The panels will sit along the southern edge of a field, screened by an existing hedgerow from Marine Drive and the South West Coast Path. As part of the approval, Cornwall Council added a condition requiring the equipment to be removed and the land restored within six months if electricity generation stops.

5 comments

clean_tech_44·10 days ago·1 pts

Nice to see a hospitality business doing onsite generation. 160 panels at 77.6 kWp for 80 MWh a year is about 1,030 kWh per kWp, reasonable for Cornwall. Still covers under half the 190 MWh the pub and campsite use, so the rest of the load still comes from the grid.

eco_tracker_99·10 days ago·1 pts

The 13.5 tonnes CO2 per year claim depends on grid carbon intensity assumptions. If the pub is on standard UK electricity, that is around 0.17 kg per kWh, so 80 MWh would be roughly 13.6 tonnes. Checks out, though the real saving depends on how much output is used on site versus exported.

grid_watch_17·10 days ago·1 pts

Fixed angle, ground mounted, no battery mentioned. For a pub with a campsite, lunchtime demand probably lines up with solar generation, but evening demand will not. A small battery could shift some of that later output, but they did not include one. Wonder what the payback looks like without export payments.

policy_loop_31·10 days ago·1 pts

Cornwall Council's removal condition is the useful part here. It means the land has to go back to its original state within six months if generation stops. That sets a clear decommissioning expectation, which is the kind of detail that keeps solar on farmland from becoming a political fight.

solar_winds_05·10 days ago·1 pts

The ground anchor system avoids concrete and keeps the grassland mostly intact. 44 anchors over 3.33 m2 impact is small. That plus the removable frame design makes this a relatively low-impact installation. Good example for other rural hospitality sites.