Sir Ben Ainslie’s new sailing team’s headquarters in Portsmouth will be powered by solar following a partnership with renewable investor Low Carbon.
The four-time Olympic medallist’s Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) team is hoping to bring the 35th America’s Cup to the UK in 2017. Low Carbon has agreed to provide the team with clean energy as it develops its bid. In order to ensure that the team’s headquarters are sustainable, solar PV will be installed on the roof. The site is currently under construction but it is expected that the solar panels will provide around 90% of the building’s electricity needs, rising to 100% when the energy monitoring system is enabled.
The solar PV array is expected to help lift the new headquarters to a BREEAM ‘excellent’ status. The building is expected to be completed in the summer of 2015.
Commenting on the partnership, Low Carbon’s Founder and chief executive Roy Bedlow said: “I'm very excited by this long-term partnership, and with the prospect of making a key contribution to a true British success story. With Low Carbon and BAR sharing an ethos of sustainability, responsibility and mitigating the effects of climate change, I believe that together we can continue to make a difference for the better, long into the future.”
Sir Ben Ainslie added: “We’re delighted to be on board with Low Carbon, and this new partnership takes us a long way towards our goal of sustainable, clean energy for our new base.”
Bedlow continued: “This project has exciting implications for renewable energy. Because the BAR philosophy is about educating and engaging locally, the project will be a fantastic showcase for how large buildings can be almost entirely sustainable.”
Low Carbon claims that it has developed over 270MW of UK solar power over the last four years and now boasts an international portfolio exceeding 2GW in its pipeline.