A Lincolnshire farm has become the first recipient of one the county’s largest ever solar power schemes.
John Saul Ltd, near Boston, has finished installing the last of its 1,012 Powerplus roof-top solar panels, which covers an area the size of Wembley Stadium.
The hi-tech 250kW panels were installed by Freewatt Ltd, a renewable energy company based in Lincoln, and will enable John Saul Ltd to save £20,000 a year in energy costs and reduce its carbon footprint by 100 tons per annum.
The project is reportedly breaking new ground because it ignores the current convention that solar panels must be placed on a south facing roof.
The Saul family have been working at the 3000 acre farm for over 100 years but are determined to keep apace with modern techniques.
Farm Director, Paul Freeman, said: “We are investing for the future of the business. It’s a huge commitment but we are confident it is a sound investment and I know we’ll look back in years to come and be glad we took this step.”
“We opted to use Freewatt because they were honest, didn’t give us sales patter, clearly knew the technology well and we were confident they would still be around if we had problems ten years from now.”
Managing Director at Freewatt, Julian Patrick, said: “The John Saul Ltd project was rewarding to do because it not only broke boundaries in terms of its size but involved using cutting edge engineering which hasn’t been used anywhere else in the county.”
“We have been involved in lots of heritage projects before and, albeit the panels are on a new building, we feel as if we have played a part in both writing the history and securing the future of the business.”
