After several technical problems and not a lot of help from the weather, the Upper Farringdon Solar Farm was connected to the grid on Friday 20th March, so, during daylight hours, your electrical demands might be partially or totally supplied by electricity generated by the solar panels installed beside Gaston Lane
In ideal conditions the installed capacity of the solar farm at Upper Farringdon is 6.1 Megawatts Peak (MWp), this is the maximum power that can be generated from the Gaston Lane site.
As we all know only too well, in our climate, conditions are often far from ideal and the power generated will vary from day to day although the panels are still generating some power under cloud cover.
Taking seasonal variations, local weather conditions and the location into account, LightSource, the company responsible for the construction and maintenance of the Upper Farringdon Solar Farm can to calculate within a fair degree of accuracy that the Solar Panels will generate an average 5,633 Megawatt Hours (MWh) of electricity every year, which is apparently enough power to meet the average annual electricity consumption of about 1,707 homes.
If you are interested in finding out how it all works and what is connected to what, LightSource have kindly provided a two page Information Sheet on Solar Panels and Solar Power generation for your perusal and for the enlightenment of the 'Biz' reporter. () .
Although construction work on the Solar Panels and the associated infrastructure for power generation is now complete and () negotiations for the repairs to Gaston Lane are in progress, work on habitat conservation, groundwork, planting and maintenance will be carried out on the site in the coming months and will continue throughout the working life of the Solar Farm.
LightSource have produced yet another Information Sheet for the Upper Farringdon Solar Farm
( which describes in detail the Habitat and Conservation work which will be carried out in and around the site.
The Company are keen to involve local naturalist groups to monitor wildlife species on the site particularly the Great Crested Newt population which inhabit the fringes of the site and the surrounding area. Once ground works are completed the plastic " Newt Fence", erected to protect the local newt population from construction equipment, will be removed, to allow the local amphibians to make full use of the facilities available.
