PLANS for two more solar power farms in west Oxfordshire have been announced.

Last month, proposals for the county’s first major solar energy farm, at Cornbury Park, near Charlbury, were unveiled.

A planning application has now been submitted for 22,000 solar panels on 30 acres of land at Homeleaze Farm, in Grafton, near Bampton.

And another plan for a 5,600-panel installation at Shipton-under- Wychwood has been announced.

The backers of the Grafton site say it would produce enough energy to power 1,000 homes a year.

Farmer Andrew Harris said: “I’m no great green eco-warrior but it’s my generation’s duty to provide sustainable power for future generations.

“Small things like this make a difference, and lots of them make a big difference.”

He said he was trying to maximise the potential of his land, adding: “It does potentially earn more than growing crops will.”

The scheme would see him lease the land to a company called Low Carbon Solar, which would develop and manage the site for the next 25 years.

It will produce electricity for the National Grid under the Feed In Tariff scheme, launched in April last year. This guarantees owners of solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric turbines a set tax-free return for 25 years.

Residents in the village, which has a population of 31, broadly welcomed the plans.

Grafton resident Neil Ray, 61, said: “In principle I’m not against it but we need more information.

“But I think we’ve got to embrace new technology. We’re obviously going to run out of gas and oil eventually, so we’ve got to come up with other ways to produce electricity.”

John Eddolls, chairman of Grafton and Radcot Parish Meeting, said: “The way the world is going, we have got to have solar energy, because we’re going to run out of oil.”

He said: “It came as a bit of a shock to one or two but there weren’t any nasty comments about it.”

Gillian Salway, chairman of the West Oxfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “If that’s done in a way which is sensitive to the environment, then I can’t see that it’s a worse use of land than something like covering it with polythene to grow tomatoes underneath.”

The Shipton-under-Wychwood plan involves farmland off Milton Road. Owner Sam Simson said: “I’m passionate about Shipton and Milton and the people here, and I want them to understand that this could power 245 homes locally.”

Mr Simson expects to earn 29.3p per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity, the standard unit used to charge consumers. A 100-watt light bulb left on for an hour uses 0.1 kWh.

An exhibition about the plan will be held at Wychwood Primary School, in Milton Road, Shipton, from 1pm to 5pm on Saturday.