NEWS I ROUNDUP Hampshire set for 10MW solar farm
A FORMER LANDFILL SITE in Winchester is set to become the home of a brand new solar development, helping to generate clean, renewable electricity. The local council has given its approval for a 10MW solar farm, set to be located in Funtley on brownfi eld land on Titchfi eld Lane.
According to early estimates, the solar panels could generate up to 14MW of electricity and alongside a gas management system could provide enough power for as many as 5,000 homes. Worth in the region of £20 million, the panels will be placed on an area covering 56 acres which were previously used for sand and gravel extraction. In later years, the site became a local refuse tip.
Alban Cassidy, chartered town planner and environmental consultant at Cassidy + Ashton, said the site will provide a valuable source of energy for the local area, and could further support the energy needs of the entire country.
“There are many similar projects across the UK, particularly here in the south of England. As the proposals state, the panels will sit on the land rather than require deep foundations, so there will be minimal disruption to the local community
Bluefi eld announces
and no disturbance of the landfi ll site during the installation period which will only take a matter of weeks,” he said. In recent years, the site has been left to grow into grassland, providing a habitat for a number of creatures, but the solar panels will not have a huge impact on the environment. Issues such as ecology and footpaths were addressed by Cassidy + Ashton after concerns were raised during the planning application, with offi cial approval given at the end of August.
The scheme is set to be hugely benefi cial for residents in the local area, but further steps could also be taken to save energy and cut energy bills. The installation of solar panels on a property would provide even more clean energy for tenants and will help to reduce a household’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Irradiance anomaly map released
KILOWATTSOL, one of Europe’s energy yield assessment (EYA) providers for PV projects, has announced it is to publish monthly irradiation abnormality maps for the United Kingdom. The maps will be published on a monthly basis, providing valuable irradiation anomaly data that will allow UK PV project owners to better assess their plant’s performance.
Over a PV project’s lifespan – an average of 20 years – solar irradiation is one of the most predictable factors affecting performance. During individual months, the amount of irradiation received by a site can differ more than 40% above or below the same month’s long-term mean. This deviation is called irradiation anomaly. Its effect highlights the diffi culty of evaluating a solar power plant’s actual
performance- often, the only available benchmarks are the EYA and the electricity off-taker’s statement.
By identifying these anomalies, KiloWattsol offers PV project owners the data to improve their system’s long- term performance. While a suboptimal- performing power plant can deliver adequate results in a good month, an optimised project may seem to be underperforming during and after a month of lower than average irradiation.
Xavier Daval, KiloWattsol’s CEO, said: “By publishing irradiation anomaly maps for the UK, KiloWattsol provides owners of small- and large-scale solar power systems alike with a valuable piece of information every month – at no cost. ”.
Norfolk contract BLUEFIELD SOLAR INCOME FUND LIMITED (BSIF) announced that it has entered into binding contracts to acquire a large-scale solar plant in Norfolk for total investment consideration of £17 million. The agricultural site located near Hardingham will be one of the largest in the region. The plant, expected to commence electricity generation during December 2013, has been developed, and is being constructed, by Solarcentury.
Following the sale of the project, under the terms of the contract, Solarcentury will warrant the performance of the plant for an initial period and will undertake the ongoing operation and maintenance of the plant under a separate agreement.
The investment has been made without debt fi nancing and the expected returns on this investment are in line with those anticipated in the Fund’s investment objective as set out in its prospectus dated 25 June 2013.
Mike Rand, a managing partner at Bluefi eld Partners LLP, BSIF’s Investment Adviser said: “Bluefi eld is delighted to announce its decision to allocate funds to this large scale project. The project was selected by Bluefi eld due to the track record of Solarcentury in the UK solar market. The project represents a growing partnership with the contractor.”
Frans van den Heuvel, CEO of Solarcentury said, ”Solarcentury has been one of the leading solar contractors in the UK for a number of years. We are delighted, therefore, with the relationship with BSIF, which has taken a pre-eminent position in the UK solar market by being the fi rst institutionally backed solar focused fund. We hope this will be fi rst of a number of large scale acquisitions of Solarcentury built plants by BSIF”.
Issue III 2013 I
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