Jersey Evening Post
Jersey Evening Post
GROUND-MOUNTED solar panels will be restricted from being installed on agricultural land following a narrow States vote.
Deputy Montfort Tadier brought the proposition after a paper petition signed by hundreds of Islanders called for an outright ban on solar mounts.
However, the St Brelade representative lodged a subsequent amendment which watered down the move, instead requiring a “presumption against” such installations.
Opening the debate, Deputy Tadier said: “I am not anti-solar. I would like to see more renewable energy in Jersey.
“I hope that one day, we finally get a wind farm off the ground, if that is still economically viable.”
However, he said that, much like supporters of wind farms would not want to see turbines built in parts of the Island, solar panels should be kept away from agricultural fields, which could be used to grow a diverse range of crops.
“There are other places where solar panels can be put,” he added.
Environment Minister Steve Luce asked Members to reject the move, stating that enforcing a presumption against development was “not the right way to address this matter, particularly when it attempts to sit outside established statutory plan-making frameworks”.
He said that, while uncertainty surrounding the Iran war was affecting gas and oil prices in particular, electricity prices are not immune to global trends.
“The cost of one source of power that will not be changed is locally-produced solar,” said Deputy Luce.
“Regardless of the fact that it would provide a reasonable percentage of security and supply, it will provide electricity at a constant price – one unaffected by external pressures.”
Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel said that the proposition “stops the Island having options”.
“That is a real problem for a tiny island in the sea, which doesn’t have many options to start with because we only have so many resources, we only have so much land and we only have so many people,” he said.
Members ultimately supported the proposal by 23 votes to 19.
Other parts of the proposition, which include requesting the next Environment Minister to consider strengthening protections for the loss of agricultural land to solar ground mounts and requiring the next Infrastructure Minister to bring forward a policy to promote the installation of solar panels on suitable States-owned buildings, were more overwhelmingly supported.
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