RES secures DCO for 450 MW Steeple solar farm in Nottinghamshire

RES secured a Development Consent Order (DCO) for its 450 MW Steeple Renewables Project in Nottinghamshire on 9 October 2026, with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) granting consent on behalf of Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.^[1] The project, near Sturton-le-Steeple, will pair the solar array with a 150 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) and carry a total grid connection capacity of up to 600 MW.

The project

The DCO application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on 14 May 2025 and accepted for examination on 11 June 2025. The examining authority forwarded its recommendation to DESNZ in July 2026, with the final consent issued roughly three months later.^[1]

The site sits adjacent to the former West Burton A coal station, which EDF closed on 31 March 2023 after a final winter standby agreement with National Grid ESO. Steeple will exploit the spare transmission capacity and existing substation infrastructure left by that closure - a grid inheritance that has made the Trent Valley corridor one of the most active solar development zones in England. According to Solar Media Market Research, 14 solar plants across all stages of development are lined up to connect at West Burton, with a combined capacity of 1,586 MWp.

Scale and local impact

RES cites the following commitments attached to the project:

• £224 million of investment in the local economy during construction
• Approximately 400 jobs over the two-year build programme
• A community benefits package worth approximately £13 million over the project's lifetime, including a minimum £350 annual electricity discount for nearby homes and businesses

The solar element is sized to meet the annual electricity needs of roughly 180,000 homes - approximately half the households in Nottinghamshire, according to RES.

Consent in context

Steeple is the third solar NSIP that Fahnbulleh has consented since taking the energy secretary role, and the second in two consecutive days. Island Green Power received a DCO for its 500 MW Green Hill Solar Farm in Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes on 8 October 2026, a project that also includes a 500 MW BESS.^[1] The back-to-back decisions signal an accelerating pace of large-scale solar approvals under the current administration.

What to watch

RES has not disclosed a construction start date or financing arrangements. The next material milestones will be discharge of DCO planning conditions and procurement of an EPC contractor. Given the two-year build estimate cited by the developer, first power before the end of the decade is plausible but contingent on grid connection timing at the West Burton substation - a bottleneck that will be shared with the other 13 projects queued at the same connection point.