North Angle Solar Farm: project update
North Angle Solar Farm is a council-owned solar farm on the Mere Farm Estate between Soham and Wicken. It generates renewable electricity that is sold to the grid and also supplies power directly to the Swaffham Prior Heat Network. The solar farm began generating and exporting electricity in November 2024.
The project supports Cambridgeshire’s climate and environment goals by generating low-carbon electricity locally and creating new habitat alongside the solar infrastructure. It is a long-term investment planned over around 30 years, designed to reduce carbon emissions and generate income that helps fund local services.
Why the project exists
The Council developed North Angle Solar Farm to:
- cut carbon emissions by generating clean, renewable electricity locally
- support the transition to low carbon heating, including the Swaffham Prior Heat Network
- generate long term income that can be reinvested into council services
- demonstrate early leadership in renewable energy at a local authority level
The site was selected because it is well suited to solar generation and can be designed to minimise landscape impact while delivering environmental benefits.
Site location
The map below shows the location of North Angle Solar Farm (about 188 acres / 76 hectares) within the county council-owned Mere Farm Estate.
Map key
- Blue line -Mere Farm Estate
- Red line - North Angle solar farm development
What the site is like
North Angle Solar Farm covers around 188 acres (76 hectares). A permissive path is being created to allow people to walk around the site.
Work to complete the wider community-accessible green space, including woodland and orchards, has been commissioned. Whilst some elements, such as orchards, take time to establish and mature, the location has good long term potential to increase access to the local countryside and attract wildlife.
The Council remains open to local engagement. Residents are encouraged to raise questions or ideas through their local councillors, who remain the best first point of contact.
Latest update (April 2026)
North Angle Solar Farm is operational and continues to generate renewable electricity. Like many new renewable energy projects, the first year of operation included some challenges that reduced output and income.
Curtailment and network constraints
North Angle has a flexible grid connection with UK Power Networks (UKPN). This means output can be temporarily reduced when there is too much electricity on the local network.
In the first summer of operation:
- curtailment was applied in a more disruptive way than expected
- the site was sometimes shut down by the network rather than being smoothly constrained
- this required manual restarts, extending downtime beyond what was originally anticipated. This has been raised with UKPN and the process has been changed so the impact is reduced
Burwell substation upgrade works
North Angle connects into Burwell Local substation, where UKPN has been carrying out planned upgrade works to the transformers to improve longterm capacity and resilience.
- One transformer upgrade was completed before connection.
- A second was completed in autumn 2025.
- A third upgrade is planned for spring 2026.
While these upgrades are beneficial in the long term, they reduced export capacity during parts of the first year.
Costs and timescales
The total capital cost of the solar farm and associated private wire was £34.1 million. This was higher than early estimates.
Income and value for money
Most electricity from North Angle is sold through short term Power Purchase Agreements (typically one to three years). The price per megawatt (MW) achieved is dependent on market conditions at the time of renewal.
Since being energised in November 2024, North Angle has generated £2.1 million for the council. While this is lower than first year forecasts, it reflects the exceptional operational challenges described above rather than the long term viability of the project.
It is worth noting that the solar farm was delivered through a contract that includes performance guarantees from the contractor (Equans). In simple terms, the contract sets an expected level of electricity generation and includes financial protections if that generation is not achieved for reasons within the contractor’s control. (The guarantee doesn’t apply for events caused by a third party such as curtailment.)
Looking ahead
The business case for North Angle is based on 30 years of operation, not a single year. The council remains confident in the project’s long term performance, and expects year two to be significantly stronger as network issues settle and upgrades complete. Electricity prices can also fluctuate year to year.
Lessons learned
North Angle was developed over several years as an early, pioneering council owned renewable energy project, at a time when such schemes were still relatively new. Through its delivery, the council learned important lessons about how risks are described and understood between officers and councillors, the need for greater clarity and consistency on cost, programme and contingency, and the value of bringing risks into the open earlier and more transparently. These lessons have been fully embedded into current practice, with tighter and more standardised approaches now in place for project management, risk reporting and financial assurance.
