Britain’s biggest commercial solar panel array has been installed on a vast East Midlands distribution warehouse. Power from the facility will provide 25 per cent of the electricity needed to run the retail logistics hub.
Amber Infrastructure — the global fund and asset manager of sustainable infrastructure projects — completed the installation of more than 24,000 individual panels on the roof of Marks & Spencer’s (M&S) 900,000 sq ft Castle Donington distribution centre.
When fully operational, the installation will generate 5,000 megawatts, of electricity each year, enough to power 1,190 houses, and which M&S will buy back through a long-term Power Purchase Agreement.
In a joint statement, Amber and M&S said they had successfully worked together “to provide a solution to the legal and financial obstacles that can restrict commercial property owners and tenants installing commercial-scale solar technology on real estate assets”.
Tom O’Shaughnessy is a partner at Amber. “We are delighted to have assisted Marks & Spencer in realising its ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions,” he said. “Working with M&S highlights the role that private capital can play in enhancing energy performance for commercial businesses. We look forward to replicating similar successes for private and public sector buildings.”
As a project sponsor, Amber develops and manages key public infrastructure projects on behalf of government and government-backed procurement processes. It is currently working on more than 70 infrastructure projects in eight countries.
The energy generated at the M&S East Midlands hub will be enough to make the fully automated distribution centre — capable of housing 11 football pitches — close to being self-sufficient during daylight hours.
“The completion of this project is hugely exciting for everyone at M&S,” admitted Hugo Adams, the retail chain’s director of property. “It is the first significant step in a number of solar energy initiatives we are planning this year. The scale of the project demonstrates our ambitious goals and long term commitment to onsite renewable energy.”
The Castle Donington site already has one of Europe’s largest solar thermal walls and the rooftop installation is just one of a number of onsite renewable projects set to be announced by M&S this year. It has already publicly committed to ensuring that 50 per cent of the electricity used in its buildings comes from small-scale renewable sources by 2020.
Praising the firm’s initiative, the Minister for Energy and Climate Change Amber Rudd said:: “There is massive potential to turn our large buildings into power stations — and this is a great example of how businesses can reap the benefits.
“More rooftop solar means more jobs — and will also help deliver the clean, reliable energy supplies that the country needs at the lowest possible cost to consumers.”
