Ford firm leads the way with solar power

Arun Construction Services oversaw the installation of 5,680 electricity-generating solar panels on the site of a disused tin mine in Cornwall for the firm Solarcentury, at present the UK’s biggest solar farm.

Capable of producing 1.4 megawatt-hours (MwH) of electricity each year, enough to supply the equivalent of 430 homes, the panels cover a 7.2 acre site near Truro.

Solarcentury also commissioned Arun Contract Services to install 3,000 solar panels at Howberry Business Park in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, the biggest scheme of its kind for a business park, which will provide 25 per cent of the electricity used by companies on the site.

From this month the government is slashing payments for electricity generated by larger solar installations by 72 per cent, making them less attractive to investors who saw the prospects of big returns from the Feed in Tariff paid for power supplied to the National Grid.

Phil Dedman, managing director of Arun Construction Services, which employs 15 people, said: “It’s a pity the government is slashing the payments so much.

“As a company, we have lobbied our MP Nick Gibb and also went to a seminar at the House of Commons where we were able to put questions to MPs about it.

“Fortunately as a business we are extremely busy on smaller scheme below 50 KwH all over London, but even these are having their payments cut, and that will affect schools, small businesses and organisations which had been thinking about having solar panels but now won’t be able to afford it.

“Even then, there are still businesses who are committed to renewable energy, regardless of the fall-off in the tariff. They see a long-term benefit and it projects a green image for their company.”

Despite the reduction in the tariff payments, Phil remains optimistic about the renewable energy industry’s future, as the price of panels continues to fall, making them more affordable, and as electricity bills continue to rise.

“The large, megawatt installations will slow down, but overall the business will grow,” he predicted.

For the Cornish tin mine scheme, Arun Construction Services built the frames to hold the panels at its Ford factory, before they were re-assembled on-site by mainly local labour.

The company was also the main contractor for the Wallingford installation.

Both schemes were designed by Solarcentury, which also supplied the panels.

“Together, they will cut CO2 emissions by more than 1,000 tonnes a year.