British telecommunications company, BT has revealed that it will power its global research and development headquarters with British solar.
The telecommunications giant has inked a £26 million deal with Newcastle-based renewable developer, UK Sustainable Energy to take all of the electricity generated from the company’s 8MW solar farm in Brightwell near Ipswich.
The company expects the site’s 32,500 solar panels to be capable of supplying up to 90% of the research centre’s daily electricity demand over the 20-year lifespan of the deal.
Commenting on the deal, Dr Tim Whitley, head or research at BT said: “As a leading technology centre for the UK, we have a responsibility to find innovative ways of reducing our environmental impact. This contract represents another great step in reinforcing our sustainable energy plans for the park. This agreement will mean that the solar farm will supply up to 90% of site demand on sunny summer days.”
The deal complements the recently-installed solar array at Adastral Park which will top up the output from the Brightwell site. Don Lord CEO of UK Sustainable Energy said: “This is the largest dedicated private wire solar project anywhere in the UK with vast environmental benefits and reduced energy costs for BT. It is testament to BT's willingness to engage and work with smaller businesses and gives credibility for future zero cost solar farms to corporates.”
In 2013/14 BT consumed approximately two Terawatt hours of electricity across its operations.