{"id":651439,"date":"2026-05-06T11:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T11:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/651439\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T11:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T11:40:09","slug":"how-one-womans-solar-vision-is-now-powering-6000-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/651439\/","title":{"rendered":"How one woman’s solar vision is now powering 6,000 homes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Building a 94-acre community solar farm fulfils a lifelong dream for Barbara Hammond.<\/p>\n

Ray Valley Solar, a community energy project based in Arncott near Bicester, Oxfordshire, has the potential to power more than 6,000 homes for a year. Its business model means any profits go back into the community.<\/p>\n

The latest technology is being used, including double sided “bi-facial” panels to catch rays bouncing back from the ground, making the solar farm 20% more efficient than older schemes.<\/p>\n

Could this be the future of renewable energy in Oxfordshire?<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The latest bi-facial solar panels are being used [BBC]<\/p>\n

For Barbara, the business model is key.<\/p>\n

The Arncott development is part of the Low Carbon Hub. As a community benefit society, it operates as a business, trading in electricity, with all the profits going back into Oxfordshire’s communities.<\/p>\n

This in turn goes into projects that help people to understand more about environmental challenges and continue to develop low carbon solutions.<\/p>\n

“I like to think of it as a fractal model. It just keeps growing in impact,” Barbara said.<\/p>\n

The community solar farm has the capacity to power a village the size of Eynsham, distributing power to local homes and businesses. But it does not have the ability to go much further afield.<\/p>\n

That is where more large scale solar farms can become more effective.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The proposed solar farm at Botley West could provide 40 times more electricity than the community solar farm in Arncott [BBC]<\/p>\n

Compared to the solar farm in Arncott, the proposed development at Botley West<\/a> is 40 times bigger.<\/p>\n

It would cover more than 2,000 acres, generating 840 megawatts of clean electricity each year, with the potential to power 330,000 homes.<\/p>\n

It is now in its final stages of planning, with the government asking for more time and information to consider whether to approve the development. A decision is due in September.<\/p>\n

Opponents of the proposals have raised concerns about its potential impact on the countryside and argued that the technology could become obsolete in the coming decades.<\/p>\n

Mark Owen Lloyd, from developers Photovolt Development Partners, previously said he welcomed “the opportunity to continue engaging constructively with the government and other stakeholders”.<\/p>\n

“We remain confident in the strength of our application, which has been developed following extensive consultation and detailed environmental and technical assessment,” he said.<\/p>\n

More on this storyRelated internet links<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Building a 94-acre community solar farm fulfils a lifelong dream for Barbara Hammond. Ray Valley Solar, a community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[241889,241886,155035,56596,49,48,241887,52780,241888,58939,3095,61],"class_list":["post-651439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-arncott","tag-barbara-hammond","tag-bicester","tag-business-model","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-community-solar-farm","tag-oxfordshire","tag-ray-valley-solar","tag-solar-farm","tag-solar-panels","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}