Enviromena has won a contract to repower three major solar farms in the UK ahead of the peak generation months this summer.
Halse Solar Farm in Taunton; Horsacott Solar Farm in Barnstaple and Jordanston Solar Farm in Tenby, are all government subsidy accredited sites with a combined capacity of circa 20MWp and have been operational for over 10 years. During this time, they have developed significant performance and availability issues.
Enviromena’s in-house Design and Optimisation team have reviewed the performance data from the sites in detail and full site surveys have been undertaken in order to provide a recommended scope of works for each project. Enviromena’s focus was ensuring a future proof, easy to maintain system going forward. The results of this work will see all three sites return to 100% availability. Uprated inverters will be installed across all three sites where required, full replacement of all DC cabling and upgrades to the electrical infrastructure will restore the sites back to full operating capacity. In addition to improving the current and ongoing reliability and safety of the sites, these works will increase the amount of clean energy being exported back to the grid.
Gary Saunders, Technical Director at Enviromena, who is leading the repowering project, said: “Over time solar projects like these see performance reductions, as much as 25% in some cases, due to failed DC cabling and ducting or older technology inverters becoming obsolete. Sites become much more difficult to maintain, so repowering is a cost-effective way of bringing them back to and maintaining their maximum possible performance. It also increases the value of the asset while at the same time increasing its life span.
“A significant amount of effort goes into repowering projects, but we are well placed to support asset owners on projects such as this thanks to our in-house experienced resources covering planning, design, grid, construction and O&M.”
Enviromena’s team continues to grow and now manages over 250 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy assets in the UK and Italy with a strong focus to ensure optimum performance across the whole portfolio.
Enviromena is dedicated to leading the transition to a world powered by clean energy by providing safe, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions to customers across the UK and Europe.
Image: Jordanston solar farm