UK: Hanson Cement initiates solar power plant

Lark Energy, working in partnership with Armstrong Energy, has successfully completed and connected a 9MW solar power farm at Hanson Cement’s Ketton works in Rutland. The solar plant has been built on 20ha of former quarry belonging to Hanson Cement.

The 38,544 modules will generate enough energy to cover around 10 per cent of the Cement work’s annual consumption. This will not only reduce the company’s carbon emissions but will also contribute to improving the per capita carbon emissions of Rutland, the smallest county in the UK. This is the first phase of the project with a further 3MW to be built later on this year.

The project was jointly developed by Lark Energy and Armstrong Energy with the latter providing funding partly through a private partnership arrangement with Hanson. The company will receive a proportion of the energy for free with the remainder being provided at a market reflective rate.

The solar farm was officially opened today by Hanson’s CEO Patrick O’Shea. Lark Energy’s Managing Director, Jonathan Selwyn and Andrew Newman, Director of Armstrong Energy were also in attendance.

“It has been very rewarding for the Hanson Renewable Energy Team to see the first of their projects come to fruition with the switch on of the Hanson Cement Solar Farm at Ketton” said Mark Cox of Hanson Cement. “This is the first of what is hoped are many such projects the company will be involved in over the coming years as we strive to reduce our CO2 emissions and energy costs.”