Tours of its solar farms as part of the inaugural Solar Independence Day were extremely well received by the public, according to Belectric UK.
The Buckinghamshire-based solar developer opened up its Willersey, Cantelupe and Wadebridge solar farms on 4 July and hosted tours around each site to help communicate the benefits of solar farms to local communities and schools.
Speaking to Solar Power Portal, Raoul Tuffnell, planning and development manager for Belectric explained: “Solar Independence Day was an extremely successful event for Belectric and the solar industry as a whole. Throughout the day, Belectric UK helped educate the local community and schools on the benefits of solar energy and the positive impacts they can have on the environment, economy and communities within Britain”.
The company was particularly proud to showcase its solar farms due to its habitat management programmes. Belectric says that its focus on biodiversity helps ensure that its solar farms work in harmony with the environment. Specifically, Belectric is claiming to have taken a leading stand against the rapid decline of bees across Britain, with the solar developer stating that hives on its solar farms now house almost one million bees.
As part of Solar Independence Day, Belectric teamed up with local schools to paint and install homes for birds, bats and hedgehogs across its solar farm sites. Toddington Harper, the company’s CEO believes that Belectric’s Willersey site “sets a new bar for how we feel solar farms should be developed and implemented”.
In related news, Belectric recently launches the ‘Big60Million’ project which aims to allow UK residents to directly benefit from the deployment of solar farms. Willersey Solar Farm, one of the solar farms that opened up its gates to the public on Solar Independence Day, will be the first Big60Million project released by the company.
Belectric is issuing a bond that it claims will provide a fixed 7% interest rate for five years, with the additional option to reinvest after five years. Harper noted that the company excited by the launch of the scheme and that the company is “looking forward to the opportunity of developing additional Big60Million projects to benefit more communities”.