Commercial solar PV developer EvoEnergy
has completed the UK’s largest solar
carport at a leisure centre owned by
Nottingham City Council.
The 354-panel, 88.5kWp system was
designed and installed by EvoEnergy
across nine separate, specially built roofs at
Ken Martin Leisure Centre. It is the latest
energy-efficiency measure to be taken by
the city council and was built following the
success of its first solar carport – the 67kWp
system at Harvey Hadden Sports Village,
which EvoEnergy delivered last year.
The array at Ken Martin should cut the
council’s carbon footprint by 41 tonnes a
year, generating 79,874kWh of energy – 100
percent of which will be used on site.
Michael Brien, project manager for
EvoEnergy, said: “We’ve partnered with the
council on numerous solar projects now since
2011. This time around we’ve helped them
build the largest solar carport in the country;
an accolade which really highlights the
council’s commitment to energy efficiency.”
The Ken Martin solar carport was
fitted between November and January in
time to beat the recent cut to the Feed-in
Tariff (FiT). It will save the council around
£10,000 a year on its energy bills, and
should pay for itself within 11 years, after
which it will earn Nottingham City Council
an income for the remaining nine years
of the FiT.Rather than using a traditional
string setup, which only performs as well as
the least efficient module, it uses SolarEdge
optimisers connected to pairs of modules.
Its heartbeat communication system lets
individual panels talk directly to the inverter
in pairs, so if one panel breaks or loses
efficiency during the next two decades,
only two in the array will be affected.
Commercial
UK’s largest solar carport at Nottingham leisure centre
Yeo Valley’s Organic Farm goes even greener
The UK’s most popular organic dairy
brand, Yeo Valley, is expanding its use of
renewable energy after switching to EV
quad bikes.
As an organic business, Yeo Valley
prides itself on considering its impact
on the environment in all aspects of its
operation and as such turned to Eco
Charger, a farming family-run business
in North Devon, that has designed and
developed a number of environmentally
friendly, electric quad bikes ideal for large
landowners, farmers and businesses like
Yeo Valley.
Yeo Valley has been using the Eco
Charger Dominator on a daily basis on the
farm over the past year. It provides quick
and easy access around the Yeo Valley
Organic Garden and also supports the team
with their increasingly popular farm tours.
Yeo Valley has 0.5MW of solar panels
on the farm roof and therefore the Eco
Charger provides zero CO2 emissions, as it
can be powered renewably. This also keeps
the running costs down to an absolute
minimum. Furthermore, due to the lack
of fuel, the vehicle emits no toxic fumes,
meaning it’s ideal for the organic farm – it
also runs very quietly and therefore doesn’t
disturb the animals.
Tim Mead, Chairman of Yeo Valley, said:
“The Eco Charger has provided a reliable,
cost-effective and, most importantly,
environmentally friendly mode of transport
for easily accessing all areas of the farm and
it’s a great help with our farm tours.
“I’d recommend an Eco Charger for
anyone with daily transportation needs on
their land as it’s been brilliant for us. It’s a
hard-working, practical machine that’s easy
to drive, doesn’t harm the environment and
is ideal for working with animals and organic
product – what more could you want?”
Anaerobic digestion power on a tight schedule
Stoneleigh-based Weltec Biopower UK has
reported two new orders for agricultural
biogas plant projects in England and
Northern Ireland.
Weltec is currently building a 500kW
plant for Stephen Carson‘s agricultural
enterprise near Strabane, Northern Ireland.
The plant‘s two stainless-steel digesters
(3,573m³ and 4,903m³) will be fed with
24,500t of cattle manure, whole plant silage,
dry chicken dung, grass silage, sugar beets
and small quantities of maize. The project
is progressing smoothly, and the plant is
set to go live and feed in power as early as
summer 2016.
Low Farm in Sherburn, England, also
decided to have its 500kW biogas project
built with Weltec technology. The fast
construction time was an important factor
for the clients in their decision making,
along with the quality, the experience of the
company and the strength of the ongoing
biological support.
Despite delayed project
commencement and exceptionally wet
weather, Weltec successfully completed
the plant ahead of the tight Feed-in Tariff
pre-accreditation deadline, ensuring
long-term financial viability of the plant for
the client. Weltec constructed the plant,
based on a 3,573m³ stainless-steel digester,
achieving G59 in September last year
despite only starting work on site at the
beginning of July 2015.
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