The University of Manchester has partnered with British clean energy company Enviromena in a deal that will see up to 65% of electricity demand supplied through a new solar project.
The university will purchase electricity generated from Enviromena’s new solar farm in Medebridge, Essex. Once completed, the Medebridge solar farm will comprise 104,000 panels spread over 175 hectares of land. Construction started in April this year and commissioning is expected in the second half of 2025.
Solar energy portal has been contacted to confirm the site’s expected generation capacity.
The solar farm will deliver a net biodiversity gain through improvements to the existing hedgerows and a native grassland and meadow with wildflowers planted under and around the solar panels.
The Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (CPPA) secures the investment by requiring the university to purchase 80% of Medebridge’s total annual generating capacity – approximately 58 GWh – over the next ten years.
Lee Barlow, finance and administration manager and project leader at the University of Manchester, said: “After almost three years of rigorous tendering and negotiations, we are proud to announce this ground-breaking agreement, which reinforces our commitment to sustainability while delivering the best value supplies to our customers. our students and stakeholders, in the form of price certainty and supply stability.”
The University of Manchester has set ambitious targets to reduce its impact on the environment and ended its investments in coal, oil and gas in 2022.
Dr. Julian Skyrme, director of social responsibility at the University of Manchester, added: “As consumers, many of us may have ‘green’ or renewable energy tariffs. These are important, but they do not bring ‘extra’ renewable energy onto the grid in the same way as a power purchase agreement. By signing a PPA we are not only supporting a greener University of Manchester, but also a greener energy network in the UK.”
Enviromena currently manages more than 300 MW of renewable energy projects. It is also working on a pipeline of more than 3GW of renewable energy projects in Britain and Italy to decarbonise electricity networks and support the global drive for net zero.
Enviromena CEO Chris Marsh said: “We are delighted to be working with the university to support their zero carbon ambitions. In addition to reducing the university’s carbon emissions over the next decade, the site itself will benefit local habitat over its lifespan until the mid-2060s.”
Solar Power Portal’s publisher, Solar Media, will host the British Solar Summit on June 4 and 5, 2024 in London. The event will explore the new UK utility and rooftop solar landscape, look at the opportunities within a GW+ annual market and much more.
