Planning application · Solar · South Derbyshire

Drakelow Solar Farm

Operational5 MWApplication 9/2015/0256Submitted 8 April 2015Granted 24 June 2015

In the evidence packnearest refused scheme •• kmShown in the pack

The application

Application number: 9/2015/0256
Planning authority: South Derbyshire
County or area: Derbyshire
Nation: England
Technology: Solar
Capacity: 5 MW
Status: Operational
Operator or applicant: BlackRock
Location: Land At, Walton Road, Drakelow, Burton-On-Trent, Staffordshire, DE15 9TY
First operating: 2016

Timeline

8 April 2015 Planning application submitted
24 June 2015 Planning permission granted
12 January 2016 Construction started
15 March 2016 Operational

Preview of the planning evidence pack for this site

The pack for this site lists 89 comparable solar incidents in the United Kingdom, nearest first. The nearest is EIR-1272, Fire in solar panel distribution board at Birmingham college, 36 km from this site.

Reference	Year	Incident	From the site	Severity
EIR-1272	2022	Fire in solar panel distribution board at Birmingham college	36 km	Minor
EIR-2151	2018	Sunlight reflected from a shed solar panel believed to have started a house fire in Thurnby Lodge	43 km	Significant
EIR-1546	2025	Solar panel isolation switch overheats in roof fire at a house in Bucknall	43 km	Minor
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The first 3 rows as the pack shows them. The other 86 are in the pack, each with its distance, sources and the fire service guidance it bears on.

The map

Summary for this site

This part of the pack is written for this site and opens with the pack. This part of the pack is written for this site and opens with the pack. This part of the pack is written for this site and opens with the pack.

Paragraphs for the planning statement

In the full pack

What the planning evidence pack adds for this application

The pack is made for Drakelow Solar Farm from the register and the government planning database: every comparable incident, nearest first, with its sources; the schemes refused, withdrawn or taken to appeal within 40 km, your council first; and the fire service guidance each incident bears on. One fixed, dated file, as a PDF, a web page and a Word document.

Incidents within 50 km: •••
Nearest recorded incident: ••••••
UK grid-scale incidents, with NFCC notes: ••••
Schemes refused within 40 km: •••
Nearest refused scheme: ••••••••••••
Appeals within 40 km: •••
Decisions in South Derbyshire: ••••••••
Sites of a similar size, worldwide: ••••
NFCC guidance points: ••••••••
Sources and citations: ••••••••••

Launch price: £145 until 31 October (normally £295). By email in minutes. The order form arrives filled in from this application.

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Want to see a pack first? Download a sample pack (PDF). It is an example pack for a 50 MW battery project in Lincolnshire, with every section and the first rows of each table.

The site's own page has its map, the energy sites around it and anyone can follow it for changes. Every planning application. Every application in South Derbyshire.

Data updated 3 August 2026 from the Renewable Energy Planning Database (DESNZ), published quarterly.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (Renewable Energy Planning Database, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero). The dataset. The register adds only the incidents and the counts.