5 Solar Plants Connected In UK By Martifer
Portuguese group Martifer Solar has connected five solar plants in the UK with a total capacity of 57.8 MW. Four will be developed in the counties of Devon, Essex, Leicestershire, and Cornwall in England, with another set to be developed in South Wales.
The projects are expected to offset 25,126 tons of carbon dioxide per year and provide electricity to about 79,000 people.
“We are proud to demonstrate yet another success as a result of our hard work and investment in the UK market,” Henrique Rodrigues, CEO of Martifer Solar, said. “With these achievements, Martifer Solar continues to show its commitment to the development and implementation of solar PV on a global level. The development experience we have gained through our track record in the UK will be vital for our upcoming projects to be completed throughout emerging markets and other parts of Europe in the next few years.”
Martifer connected the new solar plants before the renewable obligation deadline. The Renewables Obligation is the main government support for renewables in the UK, and was implemented in 2002 for England, Wales, and Scotland.
Martifer Solar is part of the Martifer Group, a company with 3,000 employees. Some might say the UK doesn’t seem like a good place for solar power, however Germany is a world solar power leader and it hardly has a tropical climate. Another invalid criticism is that large countries are simply too big to change and the cost of switching to renewables is too high. However, Spain has already produced 47% of its electricity from renewables, and it clearly has a population well over 40 million. Additionally, Spain has invested little in solar, which means it still has many GW of solar it could add to produce even more clean, renewable electricity.
The UK has invested more aggressively in wind power to good effect, but solar panels have dropped in price dramatically in the last six years, and might drop another 40% or so soon. At some point, solar and wind power may complement each other very well, especially when energy storage solutions become more common.
Image Credit: Martifer Solar
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