Belectric UK and First Solar have connected one of the UK's largest solar farms in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
The 46MW solar development is anticipated to generate approximately 45,000,000kWh of energy, negating the emission of 20 million kilograms of CO2 per year.
The site forms part of the company’s wider agreement with PV manufacturer First Solar which has seen Belectric install over 483,000 of the company’s thin-film modules across the 80-hectare site.
Commenting on the project, Christopher Burghardt, vice president for Europe at First Solar said: “Thanks to the scale of its contribution towards helping the UK achieve its energy security goals, Landmead is the latest milestone in the country’s renewable energy roadmap. Enabled by advanced PV technology that is both efficient and cost competitive, it establishes a new benchmark for the development of solar energy in Britain.”
Toddington Harper, CEO of Belectric UK, added: “The opening of the UK’s biggest solar farm is good news for the country in a number ways. Politically and economically, large-scale solar energy makes us less dependent on imported fossil fuels, a lot of which come from unstable regions of the world at unstable prices. Then, from the environmental perspective, every kilowatt-hour of energy generated from sunlight prevents dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, while the low-grade agricultural land hosting the solar panels will be used to support wildlife, biodiversity and continued sheep farming. This is a prime example of the multiple benefits that best-in-class solar farm projects can deliver to the UK.”