As a part of a regeneration project costing millions of pounds the Port of Workington are having roof top solar panels installed by Penrith based Sundog Energy.
Port of Workington
(image credit: morebyless)
The port is owned by Cumbria County Council and is undergoing a regeneration programme costing £5.7 million. This is being funded by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Nuclear Management Partners and Britain’s Energy Coast.
The solar panel scheme will incorporate 200 highly efficient 250kWp solar panels providing the port with a substantial amount of electricity towards the cost of its power usage. Martin Cotterell who is the technical director for Sundog Energy commented that it is expected to start achieving a payback in just over seven years with the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) being forecast to be about 15%.
Jeremy Lihou who is the port manager at the Port of Workington expressed his satisfaction with the quality of the installation work that has been completed already. The port are looking forward to the benefit of the savings that will be made from an operational point of view plus the income that will be forthcoming on a regular basis through the Feed in Tariff (FIT) scheme. The solar panel project is a part of the work being carried out to make the port into a “multi-modal terminal”.
This solar panel system is forecast to produce 38,440 kWh (units) of electricity over the first 12 months proving an excellent income for the next 20 years.
This is yet another example of a council supporting the installation of solar panels that will go some way towards Cumbria County Council meeting its renewable energy and carbon emissions targets. In the coming months there will no doubt be many more examples of this happening and we will continue to keep you updated on what promises to be a very important year for the solar panel industry.
