Construction work now underway on roof top solar farm on UKBIC

The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), the national battery manufacturing development facility, is set to revolutionise the way it generates energy with an innovative project which will transform its roof into a solar farm capable of generating a peak output of 2.8MW of clean, renewable electricity.

In addition to the solar farm, the project will see the creation of two 2MWh Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) which will give the facility greater flexibility over when it uses energy, allowing solar energy generated throughout the day to be used overnight. Construction work is set to commence in March 2024.

Once fully operational, the new Vital Energi installation will significantly help to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint by 555,000kg per year.

Funding for the solar farm is being provided by UK Research and Innovation, via the Faraday Battery Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK. The FBC is a £610m investment programme which supports world-class scientific technology development and manufacturing scale-up capability for batteries in the UK.

Sean Gilgunn, UKBIC’s Managing Director, said: “The installation of a solar farm on our roof will be fantastic for UKBIC. This latest investment from UKRI will help us to reduce our carbon intensity and demonstrate good industry practice by making the battery industry greener. The initiative will help to reduce our energy bills and help towards the UK’s goal of achieving net zero by 2050.”

Simon Jones, Vital Energi’s Regional Manager for Solar, added, “It’s only right that a world leader in battery development should harness the latest technology and UKBIC are making a significant investment in their green energy future. This project will not only substantially drive down their carbon emissions but will also deliver long-term energy savings and bring stability to their energy costs.

“UKBIC’s size means that their roof is a fantastic resource which can be used to house almost 5,000 solar panels across the roof space of its 18,500m2 facility, generating a peak output of 2.8MW, and will be a fantastic technical achievement once completed.”

Work is already underway on the solar farm with completion scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024.