Vigor Renewables has commissioned a 500kW peak solar PV roof mounted development on the warehouse roofs of the logistics company, Debach Enterprises which is based in Ipswich, Suffolk.
The installation, which was funded by a number of EIS funds managed by Downing Corporate Finance, covers over 60,000ft2 of roof space and is anticipated to generate over 400,000kWh per year.
The project was designed and developed by Vigor Renewables, yet the system itself was installed by Going Solar. The company utilised solar panels supplied by Samsung C&T, which is a UK-based arm of the Samsung Group.
In return for a 25-year lease on the roof space, the installation will provide the site owner with a long-term fixed power off-take arrangement, any excess power produced will be exported to the national grid.
Oliver Hughes, Chief Executive Officer of Vigor Renewables said, “Vigor Renewables is very pleased to launch this first large scale roof mounted solar PV development for Debach Enterprises and we look forward to managing and maintaining the site over the years to come.”
“While the Solar PV industry continues to struggle with the proposed changes in feed-in tariff and uncertainty over the future of these tariffs – we have focused our attentions on delivering commissioned sites. Our key advantage has been that we have equally strong technical and financial knowledge which has given us the ability to thoroughly evaluate the viability of the project from day one. This project was able to be deployed purely with a local UK workforce which broadened the knowledge base of these UK companies and allowed them to be competitive with their larger European contemporaries.”
Said Bijary, Managing Director of Vigor Solar and designer of the system said, “While we are very pleased to be launching this large scale development now, we are obviously disappointed with the proposed changes to the FiT scheme for larger scale solar PV developments. We understand the need for the review but commercial roof top projects such as this, where energy generation and consumption are at the same physical location and the supply and demand profile are in sync, are a perfect tool to reduce peak demand from the grid and future proof UK energy shortages with renewable sourced power.”