Fraxinus Solar Farm - Fraxinus Solar Farm

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Click the button below to register your interest in our proposals and receive updates directly from the project team.

Public Consultation

We are currently undertaking a public consultation for Fraxinus Solar Farm. We are consulting with specialist consultees, key local stakeholders, residents, community councils, and local organisations, to help refine our proposals.

We are holding a drop-in information for the local community to learn more:

Tuesday 15th September 4-7pm, Swindon Community Centre, High St, Swindon, Dudley, DY3 4NR

If you would like to comment on the Fraxinus Solar Farm application, please contact us in one of the following ways:

Email: write to the project team at [email protected]
Feedback form: available on the contact us page (hyperlink)
Freepost: write to us at FREEPOST TC CONSULTATION (no further address or stamp required)
Freephone: you can call the project freephone voicemail line on 0800 699 0081 and leave a message (a member of the project team will call you back between Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm excluding public holidays)

Introduction

The solar farm would generate enough clean, renewable energy to the national grid to power the equivalent of around 16,200 homes. For context, that’s equivalent to being enough to power all the homes in Kingswinford, Wall Heath and Wordsley North put together.

This project would play an important role in helping England’s important transition to a low carbon economy and will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with UK Government, and international targets including the legally binding commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050.

Qualitas Energy is committed to ensuring that the impacts on wildlife are minimised and that the project will deliver biodiversity and habitat improvements. The project will deliver meaningful benefits for wildlife through new tree and hedgerow planting, and will seek to deliver more than the required 10% biodiversity net gain required by UK law. To view more information on how Solar Farms can benefit wildlife you can follow the links below:

Full article: Solar farm management influences breeding bird responses in an arable-dominated landscape

Solar Habitat 2026 • Solar Energy UK

We are keen to ensure that local residents and other stakeholders have an opportunity to help shape the proposals.

Our renewable energy projects are designed to a high standard, embed best practice and seek to eliminate or address potential impacts as a matter of course.

Key facts

The proposed Fraxinus Solar Farm at a glance.

Up to 60MW of Alternating Current (AC) electricity
Enough green electricity to power 16,200 homes, which is the numerical equivalent of all the households in Kingswinford, Wall Heath and Wordsley North put together
Offsite connection into the National Grid network
Planning application anticipated in Winter 2026

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Got a question about our plans?

Our full set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) may have the answer you’re looking for

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Benefits

Fraxinus Solar Farm will contribute towards the UK’s Energy security by providing a source of renewable energy, generated in England. It will also support the transition to a low carbon economy and will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with local, national, and international targets, including the legally binding commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050.

The project would make use of existing grid capacity, and is proposed to connect to nearby power lines via an underground buried cable in the road or roadside. This enables a quick installation of renewable energy generation without the need to build new transmission infrastructure, such as overhead lines, to connect the project to the national grid.

Transitioning to this form of energy generation (and other renewable sources) gives much greater certainty for the long-term future of energy supply to the UK, and helps reduce energy prices in our day to day lives.

The proposal will also achieve diversification of agricultural businesses, allow for continued agricultural use through potential sheep grazing and provide a net gain for biodiversity.

Consenting

Our current proposal is to submit a planning application in Winter 2026.

As the Fraxinus Solar Farm falls under the 100MW ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project’ threshold, South Staffordshire District Council will determine whether the proposal is granted planning consent.

We are currently undertaking consultation with the local community on the proposals. Following this, we will review feedback and refine the plans before submitting a formal planning application to South Staffordshire District Council. The Council will then assess the proposals and decide whether to grant planning consent in accordance with the Town and Country Planning Act (1990).

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) scoping request will be submitted to South Staffordshire District Council in Summer 2026, which provides more information about the project and the likelihood of environmental effects.

The EIA Scoping Report is not a planning application. The EIA scoping process simply confirms the nature of the environmental impact work that will accompany the planning application when it is submitted.

Alongside the EIA scoping process, we will be consulting with residents on our initial concept designs to ensure we build in measures to address any concerns and deliver opportunities.

About us

The developer for the project is Qualitas Energy, a leading renewable energy investment funder with 20 years’ experience delivering energy transition projects across the globe. To date, Qualitas Energy’s renewable energy portfolio has invested €14 billion, and its existing portfolio comprises 11GW of operational and development stage renewable energy assets. Over the past five years Qualitas Energy has supplied enough clean electricity to supply 1.2 million homes and successfully avoided the emission of one million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

In the UK, Qualitas Energy is delivering a substantial portfolio of renewable energy schemes. Qualitas Energy is currently constructing its first UK solar farm near Melton Mowbray (50MW), has submitted a 40MW solar farm application in Carmarthenshire and is preparing a further six solar farm planning applications, including Fraxinus Solar Farm. Qualitas Energy is developing onshore wind projects in Scotland, England and Wales and, through our subsidiary company Acorn Bioenergy, have two operational biomethane generating plants with a further three consented and progressing into development, and two planning applications to be determined imminently.

Throughout this work, Qualitas Energy has sought to develop projects in partnership with local communities and landowners, recognising the importance of long-term stewardship and responsible engagement. For its UK solar farm projects, Qualitas Energy has a community benefit fund policy which provides £500 per installed megawatt capacity per year of the lifetime of the project. This figure is index linked.

Contact Us

If you have any queries or require further information about the engagement or consultation process, please contact us in one of the following ways:

Call: 0800 699 0081

Email: [email protected]

Calculation based on 2021 generation, and assuming average (mean) annual household consumption of 3,509 kWh, based on latest statistics from Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (Subnational Electricity and Gas Consumption Statistics Regional and Local Authority, Great Britain, 2021, Mean domestic electricity consumption (kWh per meter) by country/region, Great Britain, 2021)