The Vision

Sustainable Planet SCIO is working to develop a 1MW charity-owned solar farm on 4.41 acres of common good land in Forres, Moray — a permanent clean energy asset that will generate around one million units of electricity every year and direct every pound of profit into grants for local people and community projects.

This is not a commercial venture. It is a charitable activity. The land belongs to the community in perpetuity. The profits belong to the community in perpetuity. No dividends will ever be paid to private individuals.

What the Solar Farm Will Look Like

The proposed installation is a biodiversity-integrated ground-mounted solar farm — designed from the outset to enhance the natural environment of the site as well as generate clean electricity.

• Capacity: 1.0–1.05 MW (approximately 2,200 bifacial 450W+ panels)
• Site area: 4.41 acres / 17,855 m² of common good land, Forres
• Mounting: Fixed-tilt, ground-mounted arrays with wide row spacing for sheep grazing
• Biodiversity: Native wildflower sward beneath and between panels, habitat corridors, bat and bird boxes
• Grazing: Sheep integration — the panels and livestock coexist on the same land
• Annual generation: 950,000–1,050,000 kWh (modelling assumption: 1,000,000 kWh)
• System lifespan: 30–40 years

One million kilowatt-hours per year is enough to power approximately 300 typical homes, or 1,000 all-electric homes on a net generation basis. The Berryhill Solar Farm nearby — at 68.8 MW — provides a local benchmark for what solar generation looks like in Moray. Our project is smaller, community-owned, and built to give back.

The Solar Fund for People

Once operational, every pound of annual surplus from the solar farm — after costs — will flow into The Solar Fund for People, Sustainable Planet SCIO's targeted grant programme for local individuals and projects.

Grants will be governed by published OSCR-compliant criteria — targeted at those in demonstrable need, with trustee oversight and annual reporting. Universal payments are not part of this model. This is structured, accountable, community wealth-building.

The Land — Common Good

The site is 4.41 acres of common good land in Forres, held inalienably by Moray Council in trust for the community. It cannot be sold or privatised. Sustainable Planet SCIO seeks to acquire rights to the land via:

• Asset transfer: A formal request under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 — providing long-term control and the strongest community benefit case
• Long-term lease: A community benefit lease at a nominal or peppercorn rent — simpler and faster if preferred by Moray Council

The land remains in common good ownership regardless of which route is taken. Sustainable Planet SCIO becomes the tenant or asset-holder, not the owner. This is not privatisation — it is active stewardship of common good land for public benefit, in exactly the spirit the Community Empowerment Act was designed to support.

Biodiversity and the Environment

The solar farm is designed to improve biodiversity on the site, not just avoid harming it. This is a core design principle, not an afterthought:

• Native wildflower seed mixes establish a species-rich sward across the site
• Wider row spacing between panel arrays creates light and habitat variety
• Sheep grazing continues under the panels, maintaining grassland structure
• Habitat piles, bat and bird boxes, and pond features are integrated into the layout
• A 30-year habitat management plan is part of the project specification
• The design targets 10% Biodiversity Net Gain on a voluntary basis

Scotland has not mandated statutory BNG, but voluntary delivery strengthens the planning case under NPF4 and demonstrates genuine environmental commitment beyond compliance.

Technical Assessment — AES Renewables

AES Renewables — the Forres-based MCS-certified installer who quoted for the Auchernack House solar installation — has reviewed the project proposal and described it as a solid project. Their assessment provides the most grounded technical picture available:

System size: To reliably achieve the 1,000,000 kWh annual generation target, the installed capacity needs to be approximately 1.3 MWp — somewhat larger than the 1.0–1.05 MW figure in the original feasibility study. This is a normal adjustment: generation figures depend on panel orientation, shading, losses, and local irradiance, and a slightly larger array provides the headroom to hit the target in a typical year.

Cost: AES's indicative estimate for a system of this scale is around £950,000 for PV supply and installation (using Renusol ConSole ground-mounting), with groundworks — site preparation and material supply — adding a further £200,000–£250,000. That puts the total installation cost in the range of £1.15M–£1.2M. A framed array structure may offer better value at this scale but no comparative estimate is available yet.

Grid connection: AES are willing to help prepare and submit the DNO (G99) grid connection application, though they would charge for the time involved given that actual installation would not take place until 2030–2035. Having AES involved in the grid application — a company with direct local experience and DNO relationships — is a significant advantage.

Revenue model: AES raised important questions that the project needs to resolve: whether a charity feeding electricity into the community can claim the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), how the kWh savings flow through to local benefit, and what the infrastructure arrangements look like. These are not barriers — they are the kind of questions a feasibility study is designed to answer — but they need to be formally addressed before financial projections can be finalised.

Why This Has Taken Time

This project was first fully scoped in February 2026. Several early funding deadlines — including the CARES Development Fund and CARES Community Solar Fund — have now passed without applications being submitted. We are being honest about this rather than glossing over it.

The project is still live. The grid connection queue deadline of July 2026 — the window for securing a place in the 2030–35 connections queue — has not yet passed. Submitting a G99 grid application in the next few weeks would still secure the project's place in the network. This is the most time-critical action now outstanding.

Significant new funding routes have opened since the project was scoped, including the UK Government's Great British Energy Community Energy Fund. The project continues to be fundable — the timeline has simply shifted.

Current Status