Anesco has successfully completed the construction of a 4.2MW solar farm at Harworth Estates’ Oxcroft site in Derbyshire.
The ground-mounted solar installations, covering a total of 28.66 acres, will be operational for 25 years. Managed by Anesco, the new solar farm will generate enough low-carbon energy to provide power for around 1200 local homes per annum.
Anesco has also set up a local community fund to benefit local communities and charities following the solar farm’s completion. This will involve surplus profits from electricity sales being passed to locally-determined projects, which is estimated to provide around £15,000 per annum for each year that the solar farm is in operation.
The new solar farm represents the completion of the first phase of Oxcroft’s redevelopment. The 105 acre site, a former coal disposal point, is now being jointly masterplanned by Harworth Estates in consultation with local residents. The redevelopment proposes to deliver a new community park in addition to a small number of new homes.
Lee Adams, Director of Sales at Anesco, said: “Working with landowners like Harworth Estates to develop sites like these former collieries makes sound economic and environmental sense. Through these installations we will not only be regenerating disused land but will be creating employment, generating renewable energy and helping to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions.”
Hannah Moxon, Estates Surveyor at Harworth Estates, said: “The solar farm at Oxcroft is the eighth now live on our land and the fifth delivered in partnership with Anesco, bringing the total installed capacity of solar generation in our portfolio to over 46MW. We enjoy an excellent working relationship with Anesco and are pleased with the efficiency and quality of the farm’s installation.”