Irish company completes 30MW of solar PV plants

BNRG plans to build further 15MW plant

Irish solar company BNRG Renewables has completed construction and commissioning of 30MW of Solar PV plants in the UK, 20MW in Kent and 10MW on the Isle of Wight.

The total value of the two projects is estimated to exceed £40 million. However, the company is about to sign construction contracts for a 15MW plant, near Chichester, West Sussex valued at £19 million.

The 20MW project is located at Sycamore Farm, Old Romney in Kent and covers 125 acres, making it one of the largest solar parks in the UK. It will produce enough electricity to power more than 6,600 homes for 30 years.

BNRG's 10MW plant is the largest of three projects on the Isle of Wight. It is located on a plateau on one of the highest points on the island in order to minimise visual impact and maximise the solar resource. The project will generate enough clean energy locally to power over 3,600 households for the next 30 years.

For both projects the development phase was executed and funded by BNRG, with construction funding provided by British investment specialist Octopus Investments. The projects were jointly constructed by BNRG and Lightsource Renewable Energy. Groupotec, a Spanish construction company was lead contractor on the projects.

BNRG has developed and constructed solar projects with a combined value of over £120 million across Europe, but has yet to build a plant in Ireland.

Founder and director, David Maguire, said: “Ireland, like the UK, has huge potential for solar energy. It is unfortunate that we have yet to include solar in renewable energy policy, unlike the UK, which has seen significant benefit from the roll-out of large scale solar.”

However, Maguire added that with the recent launch of the Green Paper on energy policy in Ireland there is an opportunity to have solar included in renewable energy policy and to provide a regulatory framework that allows solar to contribute to the energy mix in Ireland.