Consultancy ADAS has teamed up with international solar photovoltaic (PV) experts Enfinity to begin work scoping sites and installing what will be the “UK’s biggest solar energy parks” once they are built.
These installations will provide an opportunity for farmers and land owners to secure a 25 year revenue stream.
ADAS’ role is to identify suitable sites for solar power to be installed using a bespoke screening tool.
ADAS will initially search for suitable sites that are “flat, have good electricity connectivity and minimal visual impact” in southern England and south Wales.
Over the last six months the project has identified 12 potential sites in these regions that would be suitable for solar park development, offering landowners a 25-year land lease agreement that will provide them with a long-term revenue stream.
Jon Abbatt, principal consultant at ADAS is leading the project, said the business has already started the planning permission process on four of the sites it hopes to have approved in the first half of 2011 with a plan to develop 50MW of solar parks next year.
He said: “ADAS needed a reliable development partner for this project. We chose Enfinity because of their international reputation and dedication to work completion - on time and on budget - so that UK farmers and the public can be reassured that we have a tried and trusted developer, with international experience and expertise, working to complete these important projects that are quite new to the UK market.”
To date Enfinity have installed PV arrays that are currently producing 200 Megawattspeak of electricity at sites across the world and also currently has several hundred more megawatts under development.
Abbatt added: “At a time when all sectors of the UK economy are ‘tightening belts’ after the global banking crisis such projects offer farmers, land owners and land managers a new and interesting way of creating a reliable revenue stream, creating emission free electricity - and one which saves them money and reduces carbon at the same time. It’s a ‘win, win’ provided they are developed in a sensitive manner at appropriate sites.”
ADAS believes Field PV systems are more beneficial as they offer a greater return from solar panels because they can be spread over the 25-30 acre sites with no roofs being built.
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