I can't see the big energy companies letting solar power thrive, can you? More likely the local substations will be replaced in years to come by mini nuclear plants.
You'd be amazed even horrified at the pain that goes into the planning of one of these farms. Newts, nesting birds, nett green benefit, archeology blah blah blah! One thing I can promise you is they are not just "thrown up" .
There are used as acoustic barriers in Germany. Which is also being considered here. Great Breasted Newts permitting.
There's also the issue they have in Spain where so much local solar had been installed that there wasn't enough network usage to continue to fund the network. They were threatening to tax solar to compensate, don't know if they did in the end. Not sure we'd get enough generation in the UK to end up in that situation though. Local generation should be a priority though, as our network wasn't designed to supply the current levels of demand. It's coping but won't forever unless something is done, as there comes a point when "adding on" is marginal. Local generation would solve some of the issues e.g. to recharge your electric car when/if they get viable.
