UK’s largest solar farm launched

The UK’s got a large new solar array up, the largest solar farm in the country to date.

The solar array includes 1,800 solar PV panels, spans 30 acres, and has a total capacity of 5 MW, enough to power about 1,000 homes. It isn’t Germany, but it’s something.

Local councilor Alexis McEvoy cut the ribbon for the installation yesterday during a guided tour.

If you happen to be familiar with the area, the solar farm is on the Cadland estate (a farm) in Fawley near Southampton, Hants.

Anesco is the company that completed the project, after estate owner Aldred Drummond approached four other companies that apparently weren’t up for the task.

“We’ve had to push quite hard to make this project happen and we could not have wished for it to have gone any better,” Anesco CEO Adrian Pike stated.

“When we turned up at the farm to see the finished thing for the first time, we just went ‘wow’ – we were all in awe.

“Some companies make these kind of projects too complex, but we have worked well with Aldred because we have kept things simple.”

“I do believe this is a ground-breaking project and I’m glad that we, as a farm, are embracing the use of solar power and alternative energy uses,” Drummond said.

“I’m excited by the installation of the solar farm and also for the future of renewable energy.”

The solar farm is surrounded by trees, so it’s essentially invisible to neighbors and passersby despite it’s massive size. Obviously, this sort of thing isn’t possible with most energy sources. Yet another benefit of solar power.
Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1iUjt)