Tween Bridge Solar Farm

Consultation:

Earlier this year, RWE Renewables held a statutory consultation on our proposed Tween Bridge Solar Farm.

The consultation has now closed. We are grateful for the feedback and engagement we received from the community and stakeholders throughout the process. Your input is valuable in helping us shape a project that reflects local priorities and concerns.

A Consultation Report will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate within our application documentation. This document will set out how the Applicant has taken feedback into account when finalising its proposals. When the feedback has shaped and influenced the final proposals. All feedback received during the consultation will be responded to within the Consultation Report.

Next steps:

Tween Bridge Solar Farm is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) due to it having a proposed generation capacity exceeding 50MW. We are therefore required to submit an application for development consent to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS). In response to the Governments Clean Power Action plan 2030 we intend to accelerate our project programme and submit a Development Consent Order (DCO) application in July 2025.

Following submission, the DCO application will be subject to a formal examination process led by the Planning Inspectorate. This will include opportunities for further stakeholder participation, such as written representations and hearings. After the examination, a recommendation will be made to the Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), who will then make the final decision on whether development consent should be granted – this is anticipated by winter 2026.

We remain committed to transparency and ongoing dialogue. Updates on key project milestones will continue to be shared on our website, via email and post. If you would like to stay informed or have further questions, you can still contact the Tween Bridge Solar Farm team through the contact details at the bottom of this page.

The story so far

In December 2022, RWE Renewables publicly launched our proposals for Tween Bridge Solar Farm. A non-statutory consultation was held between October and December 2023 where we consulted on the draft Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR).

We are grateful for the feedback and questions that have been provided so far. All feedback received has been analysed and considered by the project team. A Non-Statutory Consultation Report has been prepared following the consultation which can be found ‘here’. The Report summarises the feedback received to date and explains how the scheme has evolved in response to the consultation.

Our statutory consultation ran from Thursday 20 March to Thursday 8 May 2025. Thank you to everyone who attended one of our consultation events and sent a response to the consultation. The feedback received, combined with further assessments and engagements with other stakeholders, will be used to further refine the scheme, ensuring we have due regard for the issues and concerns raised.

The need for Solar

The UK energy system is dominated by fossil fuels, accounting for c. 76% of energy supply in 2020. The Government recognises how we need to dramatically increase the volume of energy supplied form low carbon sources and reduce the amount provided by fossil fuels.

The government recognises how solar is a low cost way of generating electricity, and their analysis shows that a secure, reliable, affordable, net zero consistent system in 2050 is likely to be composed of predominantly of wind and solar.

The UK has therefore made a legally binding commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. At the same time, demand for electricity will increase as we decarbonise other sectors of the economy, such as heating and transport.

Solar farms, such as Tween Bridge Solar Farm, will make a significant contribution to the local, and national, climate commitments.

A copy of the detailed drawings of the proposals can be found here.

About RWE Renewables

At RWE, we are the leading power generator and one of the largest renewables developers in the UK. We already provide circa 15% of the UK’s energy needs through our wind farms, hydro, biomass and gas energy generation facilities.

Further information is available HERE