Silicon Vineyard to Build Benbole Solar Energy Farm in North Cornwall

The Benbole Energy Farm has received permission from the Cornwall council to build a solar farm over a 10 acre site located between St Mabyn and St Kew close to Bodmin in North Cornwall.

The solar farm designed to generate 1.8 MW of clean energy will be built by Silicon Vineyard, a renewable energy consultant. The construction work of the solar farm is expected to commence from January 2011 and will get completed by April to generate power. The power generated from the solar farm is sufficient to meet the electric power requirement of around 800 homes. The site chosen for the solar farm locates away from the city and other protected areas. The solar farm will have its solar panels placed at a low level around 2.5 meters height from the ground to reduce the visual impact. The solar farm will be protected by a conventional type of high level fencing, which will be constructed by the in-house hedger of Silicon Vineyard. According to the project organizers, the solar project will generate a number of job opportunities and the community scheme organized by Silicon Vineyard will enable the local residents to avail the use of free domestic solar panels.

Silicon Vineyard also has unveiled its plans to create around 14 solar farms in Cornwall and other parts of the UK utilizing a part of the £45 million investment scheme formed by Renewable Energy Consortium, a renewable energy specialist from Truro and the University of Exeter College Enterprises.