One of Schiphol airport’s most used runways is to close on sunny days between 10 am and midday for at least three weeks because of the bright reflections from a massive solar farm.

Officials have now decided to shut down the Polderbaan runway in the morning in order to “guarantee the safety of air travel”.

Since the solar farm opened, airport safety chiefs have received dozens of notifications about visibility problems caused by the glare from the panels’ glass.

The runway will be closed in the mornings if the sun shines while Haarlemmermeer council and the solar farm’s owners work on a solution. One option is to install a special type of “deep-textured” glass, which absorbs sunlight rather than reflecting it, Schiphol airport said.

The airport’s safety committee, which includes KLM and EasyJet, wants to minimise the closure because of the likely noise impact on locals when using two other runways. Between 55 and 65 aircraft use the Polderbaan runway in those two hours, a spokesman told news website Nu.nl.

The solar farm, the Groene Energie Corridor, follows the A9 motorway between Rottepolderplein and the village of Zwanenburg and covers some 100 hectares. Work began last summer and is due to be completed in April. The farm is expected to produce enough energy for 40,000 households.