‘Groundbreaking’ solar and wind power development underway in Irvine

The Farm Energy Company has broken ground on its 28MW solar and wind power development at GSK’s Irvine facility, described as one of Scotland’s largest individual consumers of electricity.Once completed, the project has been tipped to ‘substantially’ reduce energy costs and carbon output at the site.The investment features a 20-year power purchase agreement with GSK on a private wire basis resulting in the creation of a new solar farm with an installed capacity of 19.9MWp and two new wind turbines of 4MW each. As a result, 85% of GSK’s Irvine energy needs are set to met onsite as well as saving around 10,000 tonnes of carbon each year.The solar farm will include around 42,000 solar panels with structure support and electrical infrastructure installed within 56 acres of land at the GSK site.Installation is scheduled for completion in spring 2022.Debt finance was provided by Lloyds Bank, with Ikarus Capital Advisory acting as financial adviser and CMS as legal adviser to Farm Energy in the transaction.