About Kilnside
Kilnside Energy Park is a proposed solar farm with battery storage that would be located to the northwest of Great Casterton in Rutland. We are currently at an early stage of development and are beginning the engagement and assessments that will help us design the project in a manner that is sensitive to the local environment and community.
Land Changes – October 2025
The land we are looking at for Kilnside has changed since we launched the project earlier this year and this is shown on the Land Changes plan to the right (you can also download a copy from the Document Library).
This plan illustrates which parts of the project have been removed from consideration, retained, and added, since the EIA Scoping Opinion was received in July 2025.
In August 2025, a substantial area of land to the west, north, and east of Pickworth village was removed from the project. As a result, we are no longer proposing solar panel development in these fields.
One additional field to the south of Pickworth has been included in the project boundary. This area is being considered solely for environmental enhancements, mitigation measures, or potential community benefit uses. No solar panels are proposed for this field.
We have also added a new area of land to the south and west of the Great North Road, which was made available to us after we made the project public.
Early Design Ideas
We are currently progressing our environmental assessment work, and preliminary results will be published as part of the Statutory Consultation in the form of a Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR). This ongoing work is informing the initial design ideas for the project.
In October, we held some Design Workshops to discuss our early design ideas with elected representatives and the nearest neighbours to the project site.
Our draft illustrative masterplan for Kilnside is available to view here. It presents the areas currently under consideration for solar panel development and/or environmental mitigation (blue areas, indicatively drawn). The plan also shows proposed buffers around known sensitive features, presents potential wildlife corridors and indicative routes for new permissive paths across the site.
In addition, the masterplan identifies three potential locations for on-site battery energy storage systems (BESS) and substation(s). Please note that while multiple options are shown, only one location will ultimately be required for each.
We will continue to refine our ideas over the months ahead and present a draft masterplan as part of our consultation next year.
(you can also download a copy of the illustrative masterplan from the Document Library).
Components of a solar farm
Kilnside is a proposed solar farm that would include the necessary components to capture energy from sunlight and convert it into electricity to power homes, businesses, schools and hospitals across the UK.
In addition to the technical components, a well-designed solar farm includes green spaces between and around the panels. These areas protect existing wildlife and create new habitats for native species to help increase biodiversity, while protecting and expanding recreational opportunities for local communities.
In general, solar farms are good habitats where wildlife can flourish. The mix of native species under and around the panels can support a diverse ecosystem of insects, birds, bats, small mammals and other wildlife.
Read more from the RSPB about solar farms and birds here.
All existing public rights of way will be maintained, with sizable offsets around them to ensure that existing recreation routes are protected. We are also exploring the inclusion of new permissive paths to expand recreational opportunities across the site. These will be informed through continued engagement and consultation with the community.
Energy is critical to our daily lives, to power our homes, businesses, and transportation, but the way that we meet these needs across the country is changing.
Why is Kilnside needed?
The UK has set a target for clean power by 2030 to help in the fight against climate change, support energy security and help reduce energy costs.
We are cutting our reliance on fossil fuels, including coal and natural gas, to generate electricity. This means we need new renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, to replace them.
At the same time, our demand for electricity is projected to double by 2050. This is due to the transition from traditional fuels to electricity to heat our homes and power our vehicles, as well as growing demand for the internet and data centres. To meet our growing energy needs with clean energy sources, we need to quickly ramp up development of solar and wind.
The last coal power station in the UK closed in 2024. We need new renewable energy sources to come online to replace the older sources of energy.
The last coal power station in the UK closed in 2024. We need new renewable energy sources to come online to replace the older sources of energy.
Current targets call for tripling solar production from 17 GW to 50 GW by 2030. Kilnside could make a significant contribution to our national goals, providing up to 400MW to the National Grid.
Why this site?
The National Grid connects power users to power sources across the UK through a network of substations and overhead power lines. New energy projects can only connect into the National Grid where there is capacity, which is rare. We have secured an agreement to connect to the existing National Grid electricity transmission network in this area.
Once a grid connection is secured, we need to find land near the connection point that is suitable for solar. Generally, the best land for solar is flat or slightly south facing and avoids environmental designations such as ancient woodlands or sites of special scientific interest (SSSI). It should also be located away from population centres and have good screening from existing hedgerows to help reduce visual impacts.
In addition to meeting these standards, the land we have identified for Kilnside is also identified within the emerging Rutland Local Plan as a Solar Opportunity Area. This is a policy designation that seeks to maximise appropriately located renewable energy generated in Rutland by establishing the areas of the County where different types of large-scale renewable energy proposals may be acceptable and setting out the criteria against which proposals will be assessed.
The Solar Opportunity Area is mapped alongside a range of other aspects in the local area on our project Constraints Map, which is available in our Document Library
Who is proposing Kilnside Energy Park?
Kilnside Energy Park is being developed by Aukera, a renewable energy company contributing to the transition to clean energy across Europe. We specialise in energy generation and storage projects, working through the earliest stages of planning to building and operating projects ourselves.
Our projects in the UK have the potential to generate more than three gigawatts of solar energy – that’s enough to power more than 900,000 homes and save more than 660,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
We always work with local communities to help ensure local benefits and support local needs as we bring projects forward.
