Shining solar panels stretch across the rural Oxfordshire landscape, mirroring the late afternoon sky. 

Landmead solar farm is one of the largest in England, with a capacity of 46 megawatts. With the panels soaking up the sun's rays from dawn until dusk, the site provides steady power to around 11,000 homes, distributed through a network operator. 

Solar farms like these have proved successful, says Barry Bennet, Managing Director of Belectric UK, a solar energy company which developed the Landmead site. 

"We achieve 99 percent or greater than that for our contract obligations for these sites, which means these sites are very efficient," he says. "Very minimal maintenance, there's no real moving parts when it comes to solar."

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Solar is also a clean and reliable form of renewable energy, helping the UK to work towards future sustainability targets. 

"Solar has a lot to give to the net zero transition. Currently between four and five per cent of our UK power comes from solar. We expect that to expand to more like 15 to 20 per cent by 2035," says Chris Hewitt, CEO of Solar Energy UK, a trade association representing the solar industry. 

"It's very predictable. We know when the sun is coming up and when it’s going to go down, so we know when that power is coming on stream. It's very cheap – it's nine times cheaper than gas now – and it's very easily integrated both into fields and agricultural land and on to rooftops."

Food security vs energy security

Soaring energy costs have sparked surge of interest in domestic solar power too, with estimated savings of thousands of dollars on annual energy bills by installing solar panels onto a roof. But not everyone is in favor of expanding solar farms in the wider countryside. 

Some conservative politicians argue the land would be better used for food production, a position which is now being seriously considered by the government. 

"The government recognizes the need to preserve our most productive arable farmland as best as possible," says a spokesperson for DEFRA, the UK's government environment agency. "We are committed to increasing our long-term energy security and strengthening the UK's food security. 

"That's why we will be looking at the frameworks for regulation, innovation and investment that impact farmers and land managers to make sure that our policies are best placed to boost food production, increase resilience, drive growth and protect the environment."

But the solar industry fears any tighter planning regulations could slow vital growth. 

"Solar really isn't a threat to food security," says Hewitt, "because the amount of land we would need even for the net zero targets is a small amount. It's 0.5 percent of the whole UK land area, which is roughly what we use for the golf courses right now." 

A boost for biodiversity

And solar developers say their sites are carefully chosen in collaboration with farmers. 

"Farmers have a lot of B-grade land, or land that has been over-farmed over time, so we pay good rates for leasing those lands," says Bennet. "The farmer's not losing out. It helps to sustain his lifestyle and other farm needs in the industry."

Ecologists have also discovered solar farms can boost biodiversity by protecting nature: wildflowers can grow around the panels, and sheep can even graze underneath them. 

"We found that solar farms can be a real haven for various species," says Hannah Montag, Principal Ecologist at Clarkson and Woods, a company which works with solar farm developer to maximize environmental benefits. 

"We did a study in 2016 and we compared a solar farm to a control site, a site which is still in agricultural production. We found that we had higher numbers of pollinators, greater numbers of birds and also greater botanical diversity."

The solar industry still has its skeptics and all eyes will now be on the new UK government to see if it can offer more support to solar farms, allowing them to continue to grow.