Carrs flour mill unveils solar plan for land in Kirkcaldy to cut energy bills

Carrs Flour Mill at East Bridge is one of only three working mills left in Scotland, and occupies a huge part of the Lang Toun harbour where boats bring grain to its facility. The company has lodged a planning application with Fife Council for the installation of installation of ground mounted 260kWp solar array on land next to its plant which has sat unused since the mid-20th century.

Carrs’ mill operates 24 hours per day, and, in a supporting statement, submitted as part of its application, the company said: “Energy usage has a significant impact on the operational costs of any business and understandably, businesses are looking for cost-effective ways to manage their energy consumption to reduce the cost of utility bills and in turn, shield consumers from knock-on costs of production.”

Its proposals centre on land on The Path, which sits directly behind their plant and across from the Georgian townhouse which is the company’s HQ where production used to take place before being moved from the Victorian-era flour mills to the new state of the art facility.

The land currently serves as access to a substation, and there is a temporary entry point to the culvert that runs below the site, covering the East Burn as it journeys southward to the Firth of Forth.

Carrs said the proposed eight rows of photovoltaics on open-graded stone harness unlimited energy of the sun to generate electricity for home use, businesses, corporate organisations and communities. They operate silently and without any moving parts or environmental emissions, and have developed from being niche market applications into a technology used for mainstream electricity generation. Wildflower meadows will also support biodiversity in the area.

Carrs’ statement added: “The proposed solar array offers a solution that meets the applications need for low cost energy generation while also keying into national zero carbon and planning objectives. Careful coordination of the development in the topography and consideration of the setting of the B listed Georgian Townhouse result in a proposal that is discreetly located and adds value to the wider locale.”

The East Bridge flour mill site has been a staple of industrial Kirkcaldy since the 16th century. Once a successful distillery lasting over six decades the buildings closest to the river bank were transformed into a flour mill in 1848.

In 2013 Carr’s Flour Mill completed new a state of the art mill on the adjacent harbour site - the first mill to be built in Scotland in over 30 years. The former railway viaduct is all that remains on the western side of the site and, in place of a tollbooth, a substation serves the local grid connections.

Carrs said: “Overall these proposals offer a well-mannered solution, re-using an otherwise undeveloped and unstable portion of land for renewable energy generation. When taking the information into account, we believe the proposals are appropriate to not only the development site but overall, add universal value to the wider Carr’s Flour operation and the locale and economy to which they contribute.”Councillors will consider the application in due course.