Primrose Solar has connected its 48MW Southwick Estate solar farm to the national grid, claiming it to be the UK’s “largest and greenest” solar farm in operation.
The park will generate enough electricity to power approximately 14,500 homes and Nicola Waters, COO at Primrose Solar, said the farm would make a “major contribution” to the UK’s renewable energy targets.
The company collaborated with Solarcentury on the project with the majority of the construction work having been completed over the winter. Primrose Solar has also claimed to have set a new environmental standard for ground-mounted solar with a number of green initiatives having been set during its development.
Solar-powered and biodiesel generators were used to power equipment and the site’s CCTV equipment now runs on hydrogen fuel cells.
Primrose has also worked with Wychwood Biodiversity to create a habitat management plan for the site to run over its 25-year lifetime, which is to include the planting of native wildflowers and the installation of beehives and bat boxes at the site.
“We’re delighted to have completed the Southwick Solar Farm on schedule and I’d like to thank Solarcentury, SSE and DNO Consulting for their professionalism and for their commitment to getting the job done,” Giles Clark, CEO at Primrose Solar, said.
“I’m also very proud of my team who done great work over the last year on this and other projects,” he added.
The connection of Southwick Estate to the grid takes Primrose Solar’s operating capacity to 156MW, with a further 28MW currently under construction.