Energies Media
Pathfinder Clean Energy just got the green light for Lassington Solar and Battery Energy Storage System—a 40MW solar and storage project near Gloucester, Gloucestershire. The approval came after a planning committee hearing at Tewkesbury Borough Council, where the scheme picked up strong local support, including from the farming family whose land will host it.
Tewkesbury Borough Council’s planning committee voted to approve the Lassington Solar and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project at a formal hearing. The scheme delivers 40 megawatts of solar generation combined with battery storage, sited on farmland close to Gloucester.
The developer is Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), a UK-based company focused on utility-scale renewables that moves solar and storage projects through the planning system and onto the national grid.
What made this hearing stand out was the volume of local backing. The farming family whose land will host the project spoke in support—which rarely happens at planning committees. Agricultural landowners typically show up to raise objections, not make the case for approval. Their testimony signaled that PACE developed this project with the community rather than simply on top of it.
Tewkesbury Borough Council has a declared Climate Emergency and a commitment to carbon neutrality by 2030, giving the council a concrete policy reason to look favorably on a locally sited clean energy project.
Lassington’s planned grid connection date falls before 2030. That timing matters more than it might seem—a project that actually connects before the deadline can contribute to hitting the target, not just get approved in principle while delivery drags on for years. Aligning the connection date with the council’s own timeline made the approval considerably easier to justify.
The project is also expected to deliver Biodiversity Net Gain for the surrounding area. Under current UK planning policy, new developments must leave the natural environment measurably better than they found it. A well-managed solar site—less pesticide use, longer grass, managed vegetation—can genuinely support that outcome.
There’s a financial dimension here too. Farming families across the region have faced mounting pressure from volatile weather and rising input costs, and an agri-solar arrangement offers a way to stabilize income without pulling land entirely out of food production.
One of PACE’s central arguments during the planning process was that Lassington won’t take productive farmland out of use. The site stays in active agricultural operation throughout the project’s lifetime—not fenced off, not mothballed.
In practice, that means sheep grazing among the solar panels while the wider farm continues its beef enterprise alongside the installation. Food production and clean energy generation share the same land at the same time.
The solar land lease gives the farming family a reliable, long-term income stream. PACE argues that financial stability lets the family reinvest in their farming operations and pursue diversification—options that are far harder to consider when income depends entirely on fluctuating commodity prices and unpredictable harvests.
PACE frames the overall model as one where clean energy and resilient farming reinforce each other. Solar income supports the farm. The farm, in turn, demonstrates that the land stays productive—which supports the planning case for the energy project.
UK farming has been under sustained financial pressure for years. Weather volatility linked to climate change—wetter winters, drier summers, more frequent extreme events—has disrupted growing seasons and pushed costs up across fuel, feed, and fertilizer. Many farming families are actively looking for ways to adapt.
Agri-solar has emerged as one response. Rather than treating energy generation and food production as an either/or choice, the model combines both on the same site. Proponents say it gives farmers income stability while contributing to national renewable energy targets.
The approach is still debated in the UK planning system. Critics raise concerns about the cumulative loss of agricultural land to solar, and about whether “continued agricultural use” claims actually hold up once panels go in the ground. Planners and policymakers are still working through how to weigh those competing considerations.
Lassington is one of several projects in PACE’s portfolio designed to show that solar and agriculture can genuinely coexist. Rob Denman, Managing Director at PACE, said the approval was “a strong result—not just for PACE, but for the farming family who worked with us throughout this process to show that solar and agriculture can thrive side by side.”
Tewkesbury Borough Council has granted planning permission to Pathfinder Clean Energy for the 40MW Lassington Solar and BESS project near Gloucester. The development combines solar generation and battery storage with continued sheep grazing and beef farming on the same site.
The project aligns with the council’s 2030 carbon neutrality target, with a grid connection planned before that deadline, and is expected to deliver Biodiversity Net Gain.
For the host farming family, the solar lease provides reliable income alongside their existing agricultural operations. For PACE, Lassington is a working example of its agri-solar model—one the company is looking to replicate across other sites in its development pipeline.
Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.
Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.
Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.

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