Project information
Bracks Farm Solar Park Limited is building a 30MWp solar farm in Cambridgeshire. It has the capacity to produce enough electricity to power approximately 8,000 households per year*. Solar farms are essential to achieve the UK's goal of net-zero carbon by 2050 and ensure homes and businesses can be powered by clean, renewable and domestically generated energy.
The Bracks solar project was sold to UK Railway Pension Scheme, managed by Railpen. BayWa r.e. Operation Services will provide long term O&M as well as commercial asset management services for the solar farm.
55,000
30 MWp
up to 8,000
by BayWa r.e.
Location
The site is located approximately 2km to the east of the village of Wicken in Cambridgeshire. It will connect to the grid via an existing overhead approximately 300m to the southwest of the site entrance.
Site overview
An overview of the site is seen below:
Construction traffic
Construction traffic routes to the site lead from the east via the Strategic Road Network (SRN) and local HGV routes, avoiding Wicken village. At this stage of the construction process, most of the traffic is cars and vans, with most deliveries requiring delivery by HGV now completed.
Project timeline
Benefits of Bracks Solar Farm
There are several benefits that emerge from the project:
- Clean electricity that can power up approximately 8,000 UK households per year*
- Savings of approximately 11,000 tonnes of CO2 per year**
- Sheep grazing is permitted at the site from 2024 onwards, and local farmers will be given the first opportunity for the licence
- Biodiversity measures, such as hedgerow planting, as well as the installation of bat, bird, and owl boxes
*Calculated using recent statistics from DESNZ showing that annual GB average domestic household consumption is 3,509kWh (as of December 2022, updated annually): number of megawatts installed, multiplied by a site specific load factor expressed as a fraction of 1, multiplied by number of hours in a year, divided by average annual domestic electricity consumption expressed in MWh.
**assuming all of the generation replaced is CCGT
