First spades in Nottinghamshire soil: a 46-megawatt solar farm starts rising

Construction has begun on the Brecks Solar Farm in Nottinghamshire — the first UK project of French developer Qair to reach the building stage. When it switches on, planned for spring 2027, its 46 megawatts should generate about 46 gigawatt-hours a year, roughly the electricity use of 8,927 homes, while avoiding some 14,866 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. The project won government backing through a Contract for Difference in February 2026 — a mechanism that guarantees a stable price for clean power — and its plans include new planting and landscaping to leave the site better for wildlife than it found it. Qair already operates 1.7 gigawatts of clean capacity worldwide; Brecks is where its UK chapter stops being a pipeline and starts being panels.

SDG 7 · Affordable and clean energy — Mechanism: infrastructure build