Power plant · Colchester, England, United Kingdom
Highfields Farm (Colchester)
Highfields Farm (Colchester) is a solar power plant in Colchester, England, United Kingdom, with 12.2 MW of capacity, operated by Hive Energy.
Facts
Every value links to its source, and to the source's own record where it has one. Licences and last-checked dates are per row.
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Colchester (coordinates), England | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Address | Highfields Lane, Messing, Colchester, CO5 9BJ | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Status | Operating (operational) | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Start year | 2014 | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Permit date | 25 Sept 2013 (permit 121949 (12/1949/FUL), Town and Country Planning Act, issued by Colchester) | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Application date | 21 Dec 2012 (reference 121949 (12/1949/FUL), planning authority Colchester) | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Decision date | 25 Sept 2013 (granted, reference 121949 (12/1949/FUL), planning authority Colchester) | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Operator | Hive Energy | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Capacity | 12.2 MW | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Technology | Solar Photovoltaics | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
| Coordinates | 51.8251, 0.7229 | DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · checked 24 Oct 2026 |
Research on this power plant and its operator.Who owns it up to the parent company, its grid connection and planning status, and an introduction to the operator.
Request researchLatest events
Dated events about this power plant from official notices and registers, newest first. All recent changes.
- Commissioned
- Permit granted (planning authority Colchester, reference 121949 (12/1949/FUL))
- Permit applied for (planning authority Colchester, reference 121949 (12/1949/FUL))
How it compares
Highfields Farm (Colchester) is the 1,288th-largest of 4,035 power plants in England and the 2,103rd-largest of 5,834 in the United Kingdom by capacity; its 12.2 MW is <0.1% of the 200,500 MW we hold for the United Kingdom. Ranks and totals cover the power plants in our data that report their capacity, not every one in existence. Power plants planned, permitted or under construction are ranked apart.
| Within | Rank | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1,288th of 4,035 | 134,434 MW | <0.1% |
| United Kingdom | 2,103rd of 5,834 | 200,500 MW | <0.1% |
| All power plants in our data | 9,375th of 15,799 | 1,918,113 MW | <0.1% |
Timeline
Dated facts about this power plant from its sources, oldest first.
- Started operating
Nearby
Within 50 km of this power plant: 6 data centers, 1 transmission line and 1 AI supercomputer, measured from the coordinates in the facts above. The table shows the nearest 5, up to 3 per kind.
| Name | Kind | Size | Status | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bramford to Twinstead | Transmission line | — | Permitted | 22 km |
| CityFibre Cabinets | Data center | — | — | 29 km |
| Imperium 315 | Data center | — | — | 31 km |
| NVIDIA Cambridge-1 | AI supercomputer | 202 H100e | Operating | 41 km |
| Kao Data KLON-02 | Data center | — | — | 41 km |
Operator and place
More from Hive Energy
- Troughton Farm30 MW
- Hacheston Solar farm25 MW
- West Kingdown20 MW
- Orrell Hill20 MW
- Castle Eaton Farm17.8 MW
- Gerard Hall Solar Farm17 MW
- Valley Farm16 MW
- Pitworthy Farm Solar Park15.6 MW
Other power plants in England
- Drax Power Station Biomass Units2,580 MW
- Ratcliffe-on-Soar2,021 MW
- Cottam2,000 MW
- Walpole Flexible Generation Project2,000 MW
- West Burton2,000 MW
- Eggborough1,960 MW
- Staythorpe1,828 MW
- Fiddler’s Ferry1,510 MW
Data on this page
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. DUKES 5.11: Power stations in the United Kingdom, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD), Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (Sep 2026). EIA-860 / 860M / 923, Public domain.
- Epoch AI. Epoch AI supercomputers, CC BY 4.0.
- JRC Open Power Plants Database (JRC-PPDB-OPEN), European Commission, Joint Research Centre. JRC Open Power Plants Database (JRC-PPDB-OPEN), CC BY 4.0.
- Bundesnetzagentur, Marktstammdatenregister. Marktstammdatenregister, DL-DE-BY-2.0.
- Dutch power station owners' and operators' pages. Dutch power station owners' and operators' pages, Facts only, each linked to its page.
- © OpenStreetMap contributors. OpenStreetMap data centers, ODbL 1.0.
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Planning Inspectorate: National Infrastructure Projects, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- RVO SDE(+)(+) projecten in beheer and SDE viewer. RVO SDE(+)(+) projecten in beheer and SDE viewer, Free reuse, no attribution required.
- Wikidata. Wikidata, CC0 1.0.