Behind the scenes the plans for our community solar farm at Berwick have been progressing.
Apologies that we haven’t been in touch for some time; it is in the nature of doing something that hasn’t been done before that there are changes along the way.
The complexities of our project have not been helped by significant changes in government policy, which have meant that our commercial partners have needed to hasten their part of the project.
As many of you will be aware, the commercial side of the Berwick solar farm is well under way now. The piling is complete for the posts that support the panels and so the noisiest part of the process is now finished.
This solar farm will provide enough electricity for 2,500 homes and it will start to supply green energy into the grid early in 2015. Local solar power also builds the resilience and efficiency of the grid by obviating the need to carry electricity long distances, which nationally results in about 8% losses.
Susenco, the people who have developed the solar farm, are genuinely passionate about how to improve the biodiversity on the land. They want to work with local people to achieve this; plans include building a swift tower, planting 900 metres of new hedges and trees, and managing the ponds on the land for wildlife.
There will also be an educational and community area to welcome people on to the site and show them what solar power is all about. So Susenco are looking for local people with skills to assist with the construction and management of the community area such as:
- Gardeners and Landscapers
- Joiners, maintenance and DIY enthusiasts
- Educators
- People with rural skills
- Young nature carers to assist in building log houses, hedgehog boxes etc
If you have any questions about the site or any aspect of the construction, contact James Richardson of Susenco in the first instance and he respond to you. We are keeping in close touch with Susenco about the construction, so please feel free to let us know if you have any concerns.
