A £10 MILLION solar farm, believed to be one of the first of its kind in Wales, will soon be up and running in Monmouthshire.

The solar farm will be built at Llancayo, near Usk, and is expected to start generating electricity from July.

The farm will generate enough electricity to power more than 1,100 residential homes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and run for 25 years.

The company behind the project, Surrey-based mO3 Power Limited, chose the site because it can fully integrate the solar arrays within the landscape.

MO3 Power is an independent power producer in Europe that will place 22,000 solar panels in a 32-acre flat field, currently used to grow cereals, on land leased from Llancayo Farm.

The system works using solar panels which generate energy from daylight, not direct sunlight and generate electricity all year-round.

Twenty panels are fixed to each table which is secured on an above-ground frame, no higher than 2.5 metres high that cannot be seen from the road or footpath.

Hedgerows and a wild flower meadow will be planted to screen the panels.

A number of small control buildings will be painted green to blend in and security panels, fencing and buildings that can easily be removed at the end of the project.

Larry Mark, development director, said the scheme will save at least 100,000 tonnes of Co2 emissions over 25 years.

The power generated will be fed into the national grid.

“Solar energy is a zero carbon emission technology that is important as it is one of the most environmentallyfriendly means of generating electricity,” said Mr Mark.

“Solar costs are rapidly falling worldwide so there is evidence that electricity generated from solar energy will be cheaper that electricity generated from any proposed new nuclear plants by the time they are built,” he added.

“This is one of the first in Wales for large-scale electricity generation by means of photovoltaic panels,” said Mr Mark.

During construction a total of 56 lorries will visit the site over a three-week period.

Once built there will be less than 30 visits to the site each year, which will be for maintenance using quad bikes or farm vehicles. Work is expected to begin in the next few weeks.