Rue d’Olive solar farm in numbers
Solar panels installed across 3.76 hectares (20.9 vergées)
Generation of low-carbon electricity
New native hedgerow to be planted around the solar farm
Project status
Rue d’Olive solar farm is currently in the pre-construction stage of the project. Work will begin over the summer of 2025.
Location
Your Rue d’Olive solar farm will be located in the Parish of St Mary, Jersey.
The site was carefully selected and designed to sympathetically blend with its setting in the landscape. The location is well screened by existing dense hedgerows, minimising external views.
Agriculture
As well as a solar farm, the site will be home to a flock of sheep who will graze underneath the solar panels. A grass & wildflower cover crop will be laid to both nourish the sheep and protect and enrich the soil.
The sheep thrive in the panels’ shade, naturally maintaining the specially sown grasses, which reduces the need for mechanical grass cutting. We’re supporting Panigot Farm to bring the Island’s next produce, locally-reared Jersey lamb, to local restaurants.
The site will be used for agriculture as well as energy generation for the 40 year life of the project. This is known as agrivoltaics.
The agricultural focus for this site is on soil health, pasture productivity, flock welfare, and financial sustainability.
Biodiversity
A total of 334m of new native hedgerow will be planted and 276m of existing hedgerow will be infilled up to make them healthier. Hedgerows provide food, shelter, corridors for movement, nest and hibernation sites for our local wildlife.
We’ll also be planting more than 90 native trees on the site, including Field Maple, Wild Cherry, Hazel, and English Oak.
Wildflower and grass seed mix to be sown under the solar panels.
Project benefits
Potential to power the equivalent of over 470 all-electric Jersey homes
Improvements in soil quality and carbon sequestration
The site will emit zero emissions and is constructed from recyclable materials
Ecological studies indicate significant improvement in Biodiversity Net Gain (improvements of +238% habitat units and 302% hedgerow units as per DEFRA methodology)
Renewable energy production and diversification of Jersey's energy
Development process
Construction Information
Construction of the Rue d’Olive solar farm will commence in Summer 2025 and is anticipated to take approximately 12 weeks. Final minor works such as the commissioning and tree planting will then follow to get the solar farm operational.
Construction will be phased:
• Temporary construction compound created on site, which will be removed once the site is operational. (Completed May 2025)
• Piling: June-July 2025
• Mounting frames: July-September 2025
• Installation of panels: July-September 2025
• Electrical installation: November-December 2025
• Testing & commissioning: Early 2026
• Hedgerow planting to help screen the solar farm (Winter 2025 – planting is best done in winter to allow roots to establish)
Construction activity will occur between 8am-6pm Mon-Fri and 8am-1pm on Saturdays. Stricter time limits will be set for noisy construction work, such as piling, to minimise disruption.
The development is expected to generate minimal traffic on the local road network and where possible deliveries will be made outside of peak traffic hours.
Once the solar array is built and operational, there will only be a small number of visits to the site across the year for routine maintenance.
Surveys carried out
Throughout the planning process, we undertook 20 in-depth surveys, from agricultural impact assessments to ecological reports.
