More solar installations beat the feed-in tariff reduction Reports continue to f ...

More solar installations beat the feed-in tariff reduction Reports continue to flow in of large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) installations being connected to the grid ahead of the reduction made on 1 August to the government feed-in tariff applicable to schemes over 50 kW in size (see news story in Energy World September 2011). The country’s largest solar ‘farm’, according to developer Lightsource Renewable Energy, a 7,000 solar panel installation, went live on a warehouse roof-top at Beccles in Suffolk owned by Promens Manufacturing in July. The 1.65 MW installation was built by Grupotec and funded by hundreds of small investors throughout the UK, through funds managed by Octopus Investments. The Promens Manufacturing facility will use almost 100% of the energy generated by the solar plant Also connected to the grid this summer, the new 1 MW Western Solar Park at Rhosygilwen, Wales is the first in the UK to use solar panels - 9,000 of them - from the California-based manufacturer of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solar panels, MiaSole. Third, a 498 kWp ground-mounted solar PV system installed at Slepe Farm, near Poole in Dorset, is the largest of its kind in the county. Slepe Farm is unusual, says system designer Anesco, in that it has been developed by specialist local firms, including farm Power, which commissioned the scheme. The system comprises 1,780 Dimplex polycrystalline photovoltaic modules. Meanwhile, Azur Solar has commissioned a 464 kWp solar photovoltaic energy solution on the roof of a distribution centre in Corby operated by Staples, the office supplies specialist. Azur arranged for the £1.5mn project to be delivered using third party investment funding and then managed all aspects of the planning and installation on the project. More than 2,000 solar modules were installed on the roof using A frames to maximise efficiency. Fifth, as a result of a half-million pound investment by The Crown Estate, a stone factory in Portland, Dorset, is to save thousands of pounds a year on its electricity bills following the installation of a 164 kWp solar photovoltaic system on a factory building that it lets to Albion Stone, a local mine operator and manufacturer. The solar panels will also generate a return for The Crown Estate, which pays its entire revenue surplus to HM Treasury as, while electricity generated from the installation will be sold to Albion Stone at a reduced rate; any surplus will be fed in to the national grid. Interestingly, instead of the panels being built on to the existing roof, installation provider solarcentury replaced the entire roof with an integrated solution, or ‘energy roof’, which will generate electricity for 25 years and requires little maintenance. Solarcentury has now installed 100 of its energy roofs, since the building-integrated product was designed by the company in 2009. Finally, the Ingliston Country Club equestrian centre based in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, Scotland, has unveiled its 120 kW solar photovoltaic installation which, comprising 520 solar PV panels were installed over 820 m2 of roof space, is said to be the largest operating in Scotland. The scheme will reduce the club’s energy costs by 40%. There has been much commercial activity around these and other schemes, with an estimated 40 large-scale solar projects completed before the August deadline. One solar developer, Lightsource Renewable Energy, acquired and developed 11 of the largest solar PV panel installations in the UK. Funded by Octopus Investments and advised by UK law company SNR Denton, Lightsource owns several ground-mounted systems up 4.9 MW in size, alongside roof-mounted schemes. Solar array Beccles 3 Part of a 1.65 MW PV system installed on a warehouse roof in Suffolk by Lightsource Renewable Energy