5MW solar project to beat deadline

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The solar development at Trefullock

Work is well underway on farmland in Cornwall for what promises to be the UK’s first large-scale commercial solar farm.

The 5MW project, comprising of almost 22,000 solar panels, will be arranged across 19 hectares of land at Trefullock near Summercourt, and it will generate enough clean, renewable energy for 4,500 people.

Local law firm Murrell Ashworth, a specialist in corporate and renewable energy law, has been working with the German developers and current owners in a race to get the scheme up and running before the Government’s reduction of the Feed in Tariff (FIT) for large-scale solar projects kicks in on August 1.

Work began at the end of May and will be completed in late July.

The Government’s fast-tracked FIT review reduced the incentives for large-scale solar farms to preserve the bulk of available tariff funding for smaller household solar installations.

Many experts in the renewable sector, however, feel large-scale solar installations have far more impact on green energy targets and should be encouraged.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change has confirmed that large projects like Trefullock Moor, which are commissioned and accredited by Ofgem before August 1, will be eligible for the existing FIT rate and can collect it for 25 years.