CLAIMS made at a meeting intended to rally support to stop controversial plans for a large scale solar farm near Holsworthy have been criticised by the Torridge Green party.

The Greens said that the meeting held to ‘Stop Beacon Solar’ featured claims of what it believes are misinformation and scaremongering amid concerns over proposals for a 2,700 acre solar panel project.

A spokesperson for the Torridge Green party said: “We understand the concerns people in the Holsworthy area have about the huge solar park proposed by Beacon Solar.

“When deciding whether to oppose or support large-scale renewable energy, the public need facts - not the sort of alarmist and misleading information they were presented with at the meeting in Holsworthy organised by CPRE Devon with speakers including the chair of Stop Beacon Solar.”

The party also gave a counter-argument to other claims made at the meeting, stating that solar panels have a longevity which is greater than what they said was stated at the meeting, adding that the project wouldn’t be left to decay, it would be in operation for 60 years.

The Greens stated that issues with flow of clean energy into the national grid were due to the grid needing upgrading, and added that solar panels do not contaminate the ground.

The spokesperson for the party added: “Sir Geoffrey notes that "the security of the nation can only be protected if we gear up our capacity to grow food".

“But the impact of climate breakdown on food security far outweighs losses from converting land to produce clean energy.

“The climate crisis demands better than misinformation and scaremongering.”

Responding to the claims by the Greens, a spokesperson for Devon CPRE said: “Misinformation does not mean ‘things I don’t agree with’. There was no misinformation at the meeting; we gave well-sourced facts and our opinions – clearly distinguishable – and let people make up their own minds; which they did, in huge numbers.

“Talking figures needs to be done accurately: solar panel efficiency is around 25 per cent at the maximum (a typical ‘high-efficiency’ panel offers 22 per cent energy conversion), which decays by a fifth after 25 years and produces energy in England at a capacity factor of under 11 per cent on average. All of these figures are readily checkable.

“To blame the Spanish grid for the inability to cope with the sudden unexpected non-performance of a huge renewable energy source is like blaming shopkeepers for looting.

“Most leading Green thinkers now agree with Prof James Lovelock that nuclear is the way forward for low-carbon energy. If the Green movement hadn’t spent 50 years throwing political spanners into the works of our nuclear industry, we wouldn’t be having half these problems.

“We agree that solar panels don’t leak toxic chemicals into the ground, unless they are damaged, either in operation or in removal/disposal. And that’s where we have a significant concern, as overseas investors rush to build ever more, ever bigger solar farms to mine the subsidy regime. Who will remove them when the music stops?”