A Buckinghamshire business park has announced plans to build the first subsidy-free industrial solar power plant.
Westcott Venture Park, the largest business park in Buckinghamshire, says it will become the “first carbon negative business park” in the UK. The solar plant will generate more power than its tenants use each year – even after allowing for future growth, it claims.
British Solar Renewables EPC is working on the detailed design and is aiming to start construction later in the summer.
The project will have an installed capacity exceeding 15MW and cover some 76 acres within Westcott Venture Park. It will be connected via a new cable connection to the local 33kV grid and include provision for adding battery energy storage at a later date.
Rod Mordey a director of rockspring property investment managers, on behalf of the owners of the business park said: “This pioneering scheme is the UK’s first unsubsidised on-site solar power plant, proving Westcott Venture Park is the ideal location for forward-looking businesses.
“We are committed to creating an environmentally sustainable business park and this is one of the key initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint.”
The business park’s first solar plant (1.6 MWp) was established in 2011 and comprises 6,102 solar panels over 10 acres. It has generated over 11GWh to date avoiding more than 4,300 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The new project represents a ten-fold increase and will provide an estimated internal rate of return to the investors of in excess of 7 per cent.
Managing director of British Solar Renewables Group, Graham Harding, said: “Unsubsidised solar is still in the early stages of development but our integrated delivery model gives us a head-start in delivering this and future projects.”
Project-managed solar specialists WolfeWare, which developed the existing solar plant at Westcott, will manage the existing enlargement.
Founder Philip Wolfe said: “It is a tribute to the progress of solar technology that a project of this size is now viable without any contribution from the government or the tax-payer.”