After 12 months of operation, Ecotricity’s 1MW solar park at Fen Farm has outperformed its original yield expectations despite enduring the wettest weather ever in to hit England.
The 5,157 solar modules installed across 1.95 hectares generated 4% more electricity than originally predicted – producing enough carbon-free electricity to power around 250 homes.
Hemel Hempstead-based solar installer, BeBa Energy, who won the contract to provide the end-to-end PV solution, credited the increased performance of the system to the use of high-quality components and careful system design.
Darren Oliver, Technical Director at BeBa Energy explained that the recent completion of 7MW-worth of solar parks allowed the company to recommend the combination of Sharp modules and Emerson inverters.
Oliver added: “At Fen Farm we have had no problems at all from the outset. The client is pleased with the performance ratio and there have been no breakdowns – it has just worked exactly as it should.” The site has managed to generate over one million kilowatt-hours, saving around 544 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere.
The current projected performance of the system means that the solar park at Fen Farm will payback in 10 years time.