England could see up to 750,000 acres of land turned over to solar panels and wind farms as part of the push to hit net zero targets, based on government land-use modelling.

On paper, a couple of percent of land doesn’t sound like much. But only around 6-8 percent of England is actually developed, the rest is fields, farmland, countryside, think of Merry England more like Tolkein’s Shire.

But Labour Ministers said 1 percent of all land must be given over to renewable energy by 2050 in a new “land use” strategy published on Wednesday.

Though it could be more.

“It is possible that the amount of land in England required to meet our energy objectives beyond 2035 may be more than 2 percent,” it said.

READ MORE: Is This the Most Depressing Ad of All Time?

The government says the shift is needed to meet long-term energy goals.

Critics argue it raises questions about cost, efficiency, and whether intermittent generation can match real-world demand, especially in winter.

Responding on X to a user who wanted that number to increase to 3 percent (why stop there!) analyst and net zero policy critic David Turver it would “generate most of that electricity from May to July. Yet the highest demand is December to February.”

“We would need to cover a lot more of the country in batteries at great expense.”

“You’re offering chocolate teapots, not solutions,” he said.