Council to cash in on our solar energy
Power generated here will go to Warrington
IT IS nearly the shortest day of the year and little light penetrates the gloom – but Yorkshire’s newest solar farm is generating energy.
More than 90,000 panels, set out with military precision across 200 acres of farmland near Easingwold, are the first in the country to track the path of the sun as it crosses the sky.
The 34.7MWp (mega-watt peak) farm, the largest in the region, was officially handed over to Warrington borough councillors yesterday.
The council – which is 100 miles away – paid £62m for both the Easingwold farm and a second being built at Bilton, near Hull, and expect the two to generate an operating surplus of £100m over three years.
The Hull farm will supply all the council’s electricity needs and cut its bills by up to £2m a year, while the York farm’s power will be sold on the open market.
Yorkshire was chosen because the Warrington area lacked sufficient suitable land.
Warrington councillor Judith Guthrie now expects others to follow their lead. “East Riding Council have been talking to us – they want one as well,” she said.
Developer Gridserve is preparing to submit planning applications for new forecourts to be built alongside the two farms with the aim of making charging electric vehicles “as easy as using petrol stations”.
The rain of recent months has proved a trial, particularly on the Hull site, which should be completed by the spring.
Gridserve chief executive Toddington Harper said: “We were very unlucky. It was difficult to build in those conditions but we are now cracking on again.”
Unlike standard south-facing panels, the ones used by Gridserve track the sun from east to west, producing a steady flow of energy rather than peaking at around midday.
Some of the energy goes directly into the grid, some into lithium-ion batteries stored inside 40ft shipping containers, which can be fed into the grid when there is high demand and a better price.
Although the site looks industrial
Toddington Harper, chief executive of Griserve, at the solar farm near Easingwold.
An aerial view of the generating plant at Easingwold. A second is being built near Hull.
in its newly built state, Mr Harper stressed the environmental benefits when they start underplanting the panels with wild flowers next year.
He said: “To mitigate the worst effects of climate change we have
to move the needle within the next 10 years. Previously it has been very difficult to do that because it costs you more to deliver clean energy than the polluting alternative.
“What this project demonstrates
is that renewable energy can stack up economically without the requirement for any subsidies and on the basis of pure economics.”
He says it should supply the energy needs for 20,000 electric vehicles, doing an average 7,900 miles a year, for the next 30 years.
In September, councillors in Braintree approved the first of what Gridserve hopes will be a new UK-wide network of electric forecourts, with vehicles getting charged in under 30 minutes, while customers while away the time shopping or in an airportstyle lounge.
There are over 425 solar farms in the UK – but they have their critics.
In July residents in South Stainley, near Harrogate, voiced concerns about the “sheer scale and character” of a proposed 49.9MW solar farm nearby.
What this proves is that renewable energy can stack up economically. Gridserve chief executive Toddington Harper.