Project Overview: A Complex Multi-Stakeholder NSIP Solar Development
Metrica acted as the lead glint and glare consultants for the Great North Road Solar and Biodiversity Park, a large Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) in Lincolnshire requiring a Development Consent Order (DCO). The project includes an extensive solar farm featuring multiple areas of solar PV, a BESS compound, substations and associated infrastructure.
Our role was to provide a glint and glare assessment for the accompanying environmental chapters, utilising a robust methodology and engaging with consultee requirements. This ensured that concerns surrounding glint and glare for solar panels, including aviation and road safety, and residential amenity, were fully addressed.
How Consultation Informed Our Glint and Glare Assessment Approach
Given the scale and sensitivity of the project, consultation played a central role in shaping the glint and glare assessment. Metrica worked closely with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure the assessment met all requirements identified during the consultation phase of the DCO process, in addition to implementing the standard SGHAT‑based methodology.
Key activities included:
Responding to The Planning Inspectorate’s Scoping Opinion, which required additional receptors than typical identified for glint and glare assessments – including recreational users, ecological receptors, watercraft and elevated transport users; Addressing detailed technical queries from Local Authorities, who requested alternative receptor heights, justification of study areas, and clarification of modelling assumptions; Engaging with aviation stakeholders, including Ministry of Defence Safeguarding, small airfield operators and gliding clubs, to confirm appropriate study areas and modelling parameters, as well as transport infrastructure stakeholders including Network Rail and National Highways; and Supporting design evolution, advising on the refinement or removal of PV work areas to remove potential exceedances, such as the adjustment of array boundaries near a sensitive residential receptor.
This ensured that the final glint and glare impact assessment reflected both best‑practice methodology and stakeholder requirements – a key requirement for major solar PV infrastructure seeking DCO approval.
Glint and Glare Impact Findings Across All Receptors
Our consultation informed modelling produced clear, justifiable results across all receptor types:
Road users (A1, A616, A167): Limited sections were predicted to experience occasional, glare under worst case conditions. These effects will be managed through a combination of mitigation measures, such as the use of textured panels, additional visual screening or amending relevant panel tilt angles and / or azimuths; Aviation receptors: No impacts were predicted for RAF Syreston or most runway approaches. Caunton Airfield showed some predicted yellow glare, but consultation confirmed these results were already present from the consented solar development adjacent to the airfield and would not result in adverse impacts; Residential receptors: All properties fell within accepted thresholds for daily and annual glare duration. One dwelling previously at risk was fully addressed through development design changes informed by our assessment; and Waterways and ecological receptors: Scoped in at consultee request, with no significant effects identified.
These findings demonstrate that glint and glare for solar farms of this scale can be effectively assessed and mitigated through a combination of modelling, consultation and design.
Why Developers Trust Metrica’s Glint and Glare Experts
Metrica Environmental Consulting is recognised for:
- Technical expertise in glint and glare for solar, solar farms and solar PV;
- Providing clear, defensible modelling outputs;
- Responsive engagement with regulators, aviation bodies and local authorities;
- Ability to translate complex modelling into planning‑ready, stakeholder‑friendly reporting; and
- Pragmatic design advice that reduces risk and prevents late‑stage surprises.
Our experience helps project teams navigate complex solar developments with confidence.
