Amit Oza chief commercial officer of Push Energy; Josh Stratton landowner; Andrew Murrison MP; Bill Rees director of Centrica Energy Assets – left to right. Image: Centrica.
Construction has started at Centrica’s 18MW Codford Solar Farm, near Warminster in Wiltshire.
The 72-acre site was acquired in 2021, and received investment approval in December. Local MP Andrew Murrison visited the site on 22 April to help install the first of 33,000 solar panels that will sit on the site.
It is expected to be completed by summer, and will be the first operational site that forms part of Centrica’s 650MW solar farm portfolio by 2026 target.
The company announced this ambition along with the creation of a new division to target it – dubbed Centrica Energy Assets – in October 2021. It fits within the company’ wider target of 900MW of low carbon assets, with solar and storage the core focus.
It recently acquired a 30MW battery storage plant in Dyce, Scotland, to further support this target.
Bill Rees, director of Centrica Energy Assets, said: “Centrica has committed to reaching Net Zero by 2045 and this marks a key milestone in the company’s drive to tackle the effects of climate change. We must make full use of the natural resources available to us in order to deliver a clean, green, renewable energy future for the UK.”
Push Energy is building the Codford Solar Farm alongside Centrica. Earlier in April, Centrica Business Solutions signed a framework agreement with the developer to build a pipeline of solar PV projects in the UK, including acting as a turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) provider.
Amit Oza, chief commercial officer at Push Energy said the company was pleased to be delivering the solar farm.
“This project is an example of the partnership between the two companies in action as we work together to develop, build and operate new solar capacity at scale.”