Last week, project leader Giel Jan de Gelder unexpectedly was on the doorstep on behalf of European Energy with a number of inhabitants from Schellinkhout. The message? A new 30-hectare agri-sun park, on a meadow right outside the village.
The visit has caused a lot of commotion in the village. Because how is it possible that suddenly there is a developer on the sidewalk that seems to have a plan ready, without having heard anything through the municipality of Drechterland, local residents wonder.
“We are unpleasantly surprised and disappointed in the municipality because we knew nothing yet,” says Chantal Geuzenbroek, who speaks on behalf of six households along the Zuiderdijk, Schellinkhouterdijk and Lageweg.
Chicken
Geuzenbroek is mainly concerned about the animals in the pasture, which is also a protected provincial landscape.
She shows a video that she recorded a few weeks ago: “Look at all those geese, this is wonderful to see. In a week or 2 to 3, the whole country will be full of chicks. Ducks, futen, turning, lapwings are also breeding here. I think it is really a shame if this is lost.”
8,000 households
The solar park, which has to come on a piece of agricultural land of about 30 hectares between Lageweg and Zuiderdijk, is in a Res seeking area. The originally Danish solar energy company European Energy is building the park and is expected to generate enough electricity for around 8,000 households.
The pasture is for part of a dairy farmer. “The cows will have enough room to graze underneath and the solar panels offer shade if it is too hot.” When asked how high the park becomes, De Gelder says: “It is not yet 100 percent in jugs and jugs, but the height of the axis on which the panels are placed is 2.5 meters.”