PLANS for a solar farm covering 38 fields of farm land in the Pontypridd area could power around 12,000 homes.
The application from Renantis UK Ltd (recently rebranded as Nadara) covers land at Bryntail Farm in Bryn Tail Road, Pontypridd.
It has has been submitted to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) and if approved would have a combined capacity of up to 39.9MWp (megawatt peak) sufficient to generate approximately 43,000MWh (megawatt hours) which the application says means it could power around 12,000 homes.
The application covers 38 agricultural fields measuring around 70.9 hectares that are currently in use for livestock farming with 1,333 module racks of solar panels proposed.
The planning statement submitted with the application said that approximately 2.15% of the site is for development and the remaining 97.75% is for landscape enhancement and biodiversity improvement so the area of land used for the solar development would be much smaller than the overall site area.
It would generate and export energy to the grid for up to 35 years after which the development would be decommissioned with all infrastructure removed and the site restored to an agricultural use.
The design and access statement says that it would reduction of around 18,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide missions annually which adds up to 630,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide displaced over the 35-year lifespan of the project.
The proposed development would also provide funding of up to £581,000 over the life of the project for distribution to the Pontypridd community and onward investment into local projects, groups, and initiatives, the application says.
The site lies north of Rhydyfelin, northeast of Glyntaff, and east of Pontypridd town centre.
The plans also include a substation compound, transformer stations, internal access track, landscaping, biodiversity measures, boundary fencing, security measures, CCTV posts, a monitoring house, storage containers access improvement, and ancillary infrastructure.
