[rtoway]

> Where I live in SE England they seem to be trying to take productive agricultural fields out of use

I think this is an unfair characterisation. Many farmers in the UK _want_ to build solar installations on their fields as it is a fantastic way to get guaranteed income while keeping other land for agriculture. Additionally, you can graze animals with solar panels. And also the solar panel installations are usually temporary (land is leased for x amount of years), they can be removed and used as farmland after.

> how much space all these battery and solar farms

Chris Hewett, head of Solar Energy UK says this:

"We need less than half a percent of UK land, for a fully decarbonised energy grid. That is the amount of land we use for golf courses – and less than we use for airports."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4geq9v60kro