Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The station, which will power a new go-kart track in Mile End Park, will also help finance Green Energy’s move from solely being a supplier of renewable energy to underpinning new renewable energy projects through the design, build and maintenance process.

Green Energy chief executive, Doug Stewart, said: “We have three propositions at Green Energy: To deliver cleaner energy; to share ownership of the company; and to reinvest profits in new renewable energy projects.”

Green Energy currently buys power from highly energy efficient sources, such as the zero emissions Renewable Energy Systems headquarters and the Peak District hydro project. The next step is to self-fund similar projects.

Stewart added: “With projects like Mile End, we are now in a position where we can meet our third proposition. We have already identified two possible projects for investment, a Welsh tidal project and a biomass scheme, but it is still early days.”

The £1.4 million development will have a canopy of solar photovoltaic panels that will be used to power the Mile End Park go-kart track, while the excess electricity generated by the station will be bought and distributed to the local community by Green Energy UK.

It will be one of the largest solar arrays in the UK, with an output of 110kWp, or 90 MWh/year. It will achieve 1.4 per cent of the total of targets for installed photovoltaics by 2010 – and six per cent of the target in commercial buildings – as set out in the Mayor of London’s draft energy strategy.

Stewart said: “We estimate this project alone will result in an annual saving of 38 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The Trust will also have the added benefit of selling the surplus electricity, giving it extra money to invest in other amenities in the park.”

The project was initiated by the Environment Trust, which carried out in-depth research before choosing Green Energy as a partner.

Trust chief executive, Jon Aldenton said: “We are interested in the means of supply and production and Green Energy UK is the only company we think is ethical enough and whose credentials are sufficiently green. Together we are determined to shift people’s perceptions about sustainable energy.”

Green Energy UK buys electricity from non-nuclear, renewable sources, which include a West country wind farm, small-scale hydro plants in the Peak District and Cumbria and biomass in Yorkshire.

It sells to domestic and small business customers in England and Wales, and re-invests up to 50 per cent of profits back into UK renewable electricity generation projects.