If tAlt title: New 166-acre solar farm furthers country's clean energy mission while protecting biodiversity: 'Building a greener grid'
A 55-megawatt solar farm in the U.K. is now online, sourcing enough power for more than 20,000 homes in the region while reducing pollution, according to Electrek. This exciting development is a stride toward sustainability in the United Kingdom.
Located in Richmond, North Yorkshire, this solar farm cost £39.4 million and features 93,000 bifacial solar panels. It went online on Oct. 24, becoming the biggest solar installation from Atrato, the U.K.'s largest owner of commercial rooftop solar. The site will generate 49 gigawatt hours of clean energy and reduce CO2 emissions by 11,000 metric tons annually, Electrek reported.
In 2021, the UK's largest independent energy supplier, OVO Energy, announced two power purchase agreements. Working with Eneco and Ørsted, OVO plans to buy 100% of the green power and wind power generated from designated developments.
"This partnership supports our focus to deliver cleaner energy for our customers, through our Greener Electricity add-on, while building a greener grid," said Susie Leppard, head of renewables at OVO.
OVO's goal is to exclusively use clean energy by 2035, an ambitious and admirable mission. The U.K. government has similar goals to reach a clean energy electricity system by 2030, and eventually a green economy. These goals require triple the solar power the U.K. currently uses, and this new solar farm is another milestone in this mission.
However, this farm is not the only move toward green practices in the U.K. The country's energy secretary recently gave the go-ahead to build the Cottam Solar Project, an impressive 1,270-hectare solar scheme that will be the U.K.'s biggest solar project to date.
The Yorkshire solar farm is a great move toward cleaner energy in the U.K., but many have concerns about the impact on wildlife. Fortunately, this solar farm was built with flora and fauna in mind, Electrek noted, undergoing an ecology assessment and designing a habitat enhancement plan.
Electrek also reported that once these habitat plans are finished, the location is expected to show biodiversity growth that will exceed the minimum target. According to the Environment Act of 2021, development projects must have a biodiversity value increase of 10% or higher compared to the site's pre-development biodiversity value.
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The short and snappy way to say this is developers must leave their site's biodiversity even better than they found it. And while many are understandably concerned about using up open land on large solar arrays, recent research has shown that solar farms frequently help to foster biodiversity, especially insect and pollinator life, while at the same time massively reducing the pollution from the types of power plants they replace.
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