Shotwick Solar Park, a joint venture between WElink Energy (UK) Ltd, British Solar Renewables Group (BSR) and The Compton Group, has recently received full accreditation from Ofgem on its 50MW AC solar farm, on the Deeside Industrial Estate in North Wales. This is now the UK’s largest solar park with a private wire connection for commercial use, providing UPM Shotton’s paper mill with renewable energy for the next 25 years via a Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) and can supply 100% of the plant demand during daylight hours.
China Triumph International Engineering Company Ltd (CTIEC) were the principal EPC contractor for the project, which was constructed and coordinated by BSR as EPC sub-contractor. The solar park was commissioned on the 30th March 2016 with pre-accredited Government subsidy support through the Renewables Obligation.
The solar park lies approximately 1.3km north east of the UPM paper mill and is connected directly to the UPM facility via a private wire connection, providing renewable electricity ‘behind the meter’, avoiding non-commodity charges such as transmission and distribution costs on the energy generated. Any power not consumed by UPM is purchased by Engie.
The solar site, which is visible from outer space, has over 250,000 individual Jetion photovoltaic panels which during daylight hours can provide the UPM Shotton site with 100% of its energy needs.
