A farm's planning application to build more than 12,000 solar panels on a greenfield site in the New Forest National Park has been unanimously refused.
The proposed 9.85 hectare scheme at Thornlands Farm, Netley Marsh, would have also seen two sub stations built.
But the New Forest National Park Authority said the proposal went against national policy and the adopted New Forest Local Plan.
The applicant also did not take into account the grazing needs of commoners’ livestock, the authority said in its report.
National parks have the highest level of protection in relation to landscape and scenic beauty and they are designated by the government to conserve the area.
Current policy states that the general need for renewable or low carbon energy does not automatically override environmental protections.
New Forest's National Park Authority said that the scale of the Thornlands Farm solar proposals constituted ‘major development’.
It is a long-standing position of national parks that planning permission should be refused for major development other than in exceptional circumstances.
Usually, major development proposals in national parks must be assessed against a range of tests to be supported.
As well as being contrary to national guidance, Thornlands Farm's proposal did not comply with national park planning policies which support small scale schemes to provide renewable energy.
The application also did not adequately show that there would be no impact on wildlife and habitats, and neither did it take into account the grazing needs of commoners’ livestock.
Chair of the New Forest planning committee, Gordon Bailey said: "The committee decided to refuse this application as the scale of it was not considered to be appropriate in the protected National Park landscape setting.
"The applicant hadn’t adequately demonstrated that it needed to be located here rather than on an alternative site outside the National Park."
The National Park Authority has so far this year granted planning permission for a number of renewable energy developments, including the installation of 48 panels at a farm in Bartley.
