Funding has been secured for two solar farms schemes which will include large-scale super charging facilities for electric vehicles (EVs).

Gridserve, which last year revealed plans for a network of high-power charging facilities under the brand name Electric Forecourts, has won backing for the solar farms at York and Hull.

Construction of the first 34.7MWp hybrid solar farm plus 27MW battery storage system at York is due to commence imminently. This is due to be followed by a 25.7MWp solar farm at Hull.

The primary purpose of the sites will be power generation and storage, but there are also plans to install Electric Forecourts linked to each site.

They will be among the first in a nationwide network Gridserve is developing, offering supercharging for up to 24 EVs simultaneously.

It claims drivers will be able to charge their EVs in minutes and its prices will be competitive with charging EVs at home.

When the company launched Electric Forecourts last year its chief executive, Toddington Harper, said: “Our plan is to deliver for electric vehicle charging what Amazon has done for shopping online – make it simple, price competitive, and a great customer experience.”

He added: “The public network of chargers is not yet adequate for the needs of large numbers of electric vehicle drivers. Gridserve is addressing this head-on by focusing on delivering a customer experience that will make using an EV as straightforward as today’s petrol stations are for combustion engine vehicles.”