A SOLAR energy company has been granted permission to install 100,000 more panels in the Colchester area.

Push Energy submitted planning applications to Colchester Council for solar farms on Birch Airfield, in Birch, and Boxted Airfield, in Langham.

The farm at Langham will have 26,400 panels on 29 acres of farmland, generating enough energy to power 1,485 homes.

A handful of objections were made to the council over the visual impact the solar farmwill have on the landscape, but planning officers approved the application.

Litte Horkesley-based Push Energy’s bid for the solar farm at Boxted Airfield includes 76,244 panels on about 50 acres of land.

Residents had objected on the basis farmland would be lost.

Planning offices again approved the application.

Both of the developments will last 25 years.

The land can return to agriculture use after the panels are removed.

Last month, Colchester Council’s planning committee approved Push Energy’s application for an 83,000-panel site at Langenhoe Hall, Langenhoe. Officers had recommended refusal, saying brownfield sites should be used before farmland.

However, councillors said the need for alternative energy sources outweighed such concerns.