BELECTRIC UK And ROCKFIRE completed 3.42 MW Solar Power On Rolls Royce facility

BELECTRIC UK has completed a 3.42 Mw solar power installation on the rooftops of the Rolls Royce defence aerospace manufacturing facility in Bristol.

The power plant will generate over 3 Million KWh of clean energy annually or the next 25 years which will be enough to power 900 homes. The plant will displace an estimated 1.4 million kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions per year. Rolls-Royce will realise immediate savings on its energy bills by using all the zero-carbon electricity generated within its Bristol site, which is being provided to Rolls-Royce through a 25-year power purchase agreement priced below their current cost of energy. As well as a price advantage today, this PPA will safeguard against future energy price rises resulting from increasingly expensive fossil-fuel and nuclear generation.

In the time between conception and construction of the Bristol solar plant, successive cuts in government incentives for low-carbon energy had major impacts upon the economics of the project. However, despite feed-in tariffs having been reduced to the point of insignificance, Rolls-Royce, BELECTRIC UK and ROCKFIRE were able to deliver a path forwards by finding an acceptable balance of energy costs, commitments towards CSR and carbon reduction goals, and acceptable returns on investments.

Image: The engineering and construction team completed the Solar PV system on time and on budget (Source: BELECTRIC)