BWE Partnership and British Solar Renewables (BSR) have broken ground on the 9.5MW New Mains of Guynd solar farm near Arbroath, Scotland.
BWE received planning permission for the site late last year but has just started its development following a £10 million investment
The project is to be developed in two phases. The first phase is expected to be completed by the end of this month and involve an initial development of 5MW, while the remaining 4.5MW is to be finished later next year.
BWE revealed that BSR would act as the lead EPC contractor for the project, while its subsidiary Renewable Energy Connections would work as the independent connection provider.
Initial plans for the site tabled in 2014 stated the site’s capacity to be up to 12MW, however final capacity of the site will be the reduced 9.5MW.
“BWE Partnership continues to seek land for large solar energy developments in the east of Scotland with particular interest in opportunities within east Angus, east Aberdeenshire and in Fife,” BWE owner Ron Shanks said.
However BWE’s claims for it to be the largest solar farm in Scotland upon completion could be under threat, with Chinese module manufacturer Canadian Solar associated with a separate, 5MW+ solar farm, as revealed by Solar Power Portal earlier today.
Finlay Colville, head of intelligence at Solar Intelligence, said that he expected a large uptick in ground-mount solar farms in Scotland between now and 31 March 2016 as the Renewables Obligation grace period deadline looms.
