A public consultation is to be held later this week on a proposed solar farm on the outskirts of Ipswich that could power 13,000 homes.

Enso Energy, through their subsidiary company Bramford Green Ltd, is planning to develop a solar farm and battery storage facility on land south of Church Farm, Somersham.

In September, the energy firm submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment scoping report to Mid Suffolk District Council as part of the first steps towards receiving the go-ahead for the scheme.

The generating station would have an export capacity of up to 49.9MW for distribution to the national grid, Enso Energy said.

The firm also said this would be enough to power the annual electrical needs of around 13,000 family homes, while the annual carbon dioxide displacement would be around 21,500 tonnes - the equivalent of keeping 7,000 cars off the road every year.

At times of peak demand, the battery storage facility that is set to be constructed would supply homes throughout Suffolk.

During development, Enso Energy said it would strive to use Suffolk suppliers during construction and said no protected landscape would be damaged by the scheme.

Enso Energy are hosting a public consultation online on Thursday, which will include a webinar and a Q&A session.

Ian Harding, director at Enso Energy, said: “Our ambition is to use the latest solar technology to make a positive impact on the country and communities we work with. That’s why our proposals for Bramford make use of innovative tracker technology, allowing the proposed site to generate 20%-25% more energy than traditional solar farms.

“We believe the Bramford Solar Farm has the potential to positively change how we create energy as well as helping Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils’ achieve their carbon neutral pledge and aspiration of becoming the greenest county.”

Residents can register for Thursday’s consultation, which begins at 5pm, by visiting Enso Energy’s website.

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