Subsidy-free bifacial solar PV-plus-storage project completed in England

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#SmartSolarStorage2020: GRIDSERVE said its new solar-plus-storage site is the first in the UK to include bifacial PV modules and single-axis trackers, as well as being unsubsidised. Image: GRIDSERVE.

Renewables developer GRIDSERVE has completed a “game changing” hybrid solar-plus-storage farm in York, UK, claiming it to be the first in the country to boast single-axis trackers and bifacial panels.

The site combined 37.4MWp of Suntech bifacial modules with 27MW of energy storage, using Nextracker single-axis trackers to shift the site’s generation portfolio into more beneficial hours.

The project is thought to be the most northerly combination of the two cutting edge technologies – bifacial panels and trackers – and the site ‘stacks’ a number of revenue streams in order to be financially feasible without subsidy support.

Toddington Harper, chief executive at GRIDSERVE, said that subsidy-free projects such as this demonstrate that the UK is capable of meeting its net zero obligations “well before 2050”.

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As we kick off the New Year, Energy-Storage.news and PV Tech will be talking #SmartSolarStorage2020. Use the official hashtag on your social media channels to join and follow the conversation.

To read the full version of this story, visit PV Tech.

Additionally, an in-depth project overview is included in PV Tech Power volume 21, published earlier this week. The journal, including that feature-length profile of the project, can be downloaded here (free, with some subscription details required).

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