Go Ahead For UK's Largest Solar Farm
TGC Renewables, an independent
renewable energy project developer, has secured planning approval for the
largest UK solar project in the UK to date.
As solar projects become more
ambitious, and are able to be supported under the Renewable Obligation
Certificate (ROC) mechanism, TGC Renewables is able to work with landowners
keen to diversify their incomes and provide a regular supply of clean
electricity to the national grid. The 8MW project will provide the southwest of
England based farm with a guaranteed rental income over the next 25 years, and
enough electricity to power 2500 homes.
With the South West benefiting
from high levels of sunshine and solar radiation, ground mounted photovoltaic
(PV) developments now enable solar energy to be produced at a multi-megawatt
scale. The 27,924 PV panels will be installed over 5 interconnected fields on a
site comprising 15.4 hectares, near South Brent in South Devon. TGC Renewables
has worked closely with the landlord and the local authorities do develop the
site including project management, legal, financial and electrical support.
"This project is one of a number
of large multi-MW schemes we have in development as we respond to the interest
and demand from the farming community for renewable energy', said Rob Denman,
Director, TGC Renewables. "With our in-house expertise, we can take the
project through the entire development cycle from feasibility through to grid
connection. We now have over 10MWs in operation or construction and with plans
to increase this to over 100MWs over the next 18 months. The main challenge is
finding sites that are suitable and that meet the tough criteria that are required
to obtain all the required permits. TGC Renewables was the first dedicated
large scale solar developer in the UK and over the past three years we have
been involved in UK solar we have overcome all the challenges and now have
in-house expertise across the skill set and know what it takes to develop world
class solar projects."
Mr Richard Buckpitt, the
landowner of the site who selected TGC Renewables commented, "We had been
looking to diversify the farm's income for a while, so taking the opportunity
to develop a large scale solar project made financial sense. We know TGC
Renewables as a firm with a number of other local developments and are aware of
its reputation and track record in secured planning approval for its projects."
