BSR to build 15-MWp subsidy-free industrial PV park in UK

August 22 (Renewables Now) - British Solar Renewables (BSR) said on Tuesday it has won an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deal for what will be the first non-subsidy industrial solar park in the UK.

The 15-MWp facility will be installed at the Westcott Venture Park between Bicester and Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire county, and will provide electricity to Rockspring Hanover Property Unit Trust's Rockspring business park, а facility that will become the first carbon-negative business centre in the country. Construction is slated to begin this summer.

BSR EPC, a division of BSR, has secured the EPC contract for the project from WolfeWare. Through its units BSR Connect and BSR O&M, the company will also hook the photovoltaic (PV) park into the power grid and take care of its operations and maintenance.

“Unsubsidised solar is still in the early stages of development but our integrated delivery model gives us a head-start in delivering this and future projects,” said Graham Harding, managing director of BSR Group. Meanwhile, according to WolfeWare’s founder Philip Wolfe MBE the project shows that “solar power continues to close in on ‘grid parity’; the level at which it competes with traditional electricity generation.”

Once fully operational, the solar plant will be able to generate more than 14.5 GWh of electricity annually. The surplus power, which exceeds the Rockspring centre’s needs, will be fed into the grid.