The Conergy Group has completed Great Britain’s largest solar power plant. The 5 MW free-field park is situated in Hawton, near Newark on Trent in Nottinghamshire. The “fast-track” project was built in cooperation with Conergy’s local partner Lark Energy and was completed only six weeks after receiving the planning consent on May 24, 2011.
The local residents supported the green project from the beginning on: A community research conducted prior to the installation showed that 100% of the respondents generally favoured the idea of solar energy as a clean, renewable energy solution with no emissions. 92% of those who came to an open event in March 2011 supported the Hawton solar park. “I am sure in time this could be a major opportunity for renewable energy to prove to be a major benefit”, concluded one respondent.“
The project was clearly a race against time to meet the deadline of July 31, 2011 – but we made it, even more than two weeks beforehand thanks to our brilliant solar expert team”, says Robert Goss, Head of Conergy UK. “The deadline was imposed by the recent review of the Feed in Tariff incentive payments for large-scale solar projects that are to be slashed by 72%. All parties showed great determination to support this exciting project which will be one of a very few large solar projects installed in 2011.”
The installation covers a total area of 14.6 hectares. There are 21,600 Conergy PowerPlus modules on approximately 40 kilometres of Conergy SolarLinea mounting systems were installed. Annually, the premium modules will produce 4,860 megawatt hours of clean electricity – enough to supply 1,300 homes.
The market trend proves this to be right with a clear focus on small roof top installations: Since the introduction of the FiT in April 2010, 27,000 solar installations have been registered according to the British Photovoltaic Association. 91% of these are on domestic roofs. Conergy provides the right products here, too: The high-quality PowerPlus modules make the most out of the roof surface area since they perfectly fit the local light and weather conditions as well as the need of the customer for a secure long-term investment.
Source: Conergy July 13, 2011
