UK on-site generation company, Wind Direct, has reached ‘financial close’ for a two turbine project at Roy Humphrey Group on the A140 near Eye in Suffolk.
Construction on the site could now begin by the end of April, with energisation during autumn 2012. Once operational, the two 2.5MW wind turbines will supply green electricity direct to Roy Humphrey Group’s estate for the next 25 years and could generate up to 80% of their electricity needs.
The project was the vision of local business entrepreneur Carl Humphrey who is keen to reduce carbon emissions from the 88 acre site, and ensure the family’s motoring business is more sustainable. As well as providing green energy, the turbines will allow the business to fix their electricity costs for the long term.
In achieving financial close, a turbine supply agreement has been signed with wind turbine manufacturer, Nordex, with the sale of the project to Triodos Renewables and funding from Triodos Bank.
Frances Karki, chief operating officer for Wind Direct, commented, “These turbines will stand as a clear symbol of Roy Humphrey Group’s commitment to reducing their impact on the environment. Achieving financial close on the project is the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work by our development, construction and commercial teams. It is exciting that the project will now enter the construction phase.”
Humphrey added, “For four decades we have been at the forefront of the motoring and transport industry. Now we are leading the way by bringing in a modern form of power generation to supply not just Roy Humphrey (Car and Commercial) but many other businesses on our site. With all of the commercial agreements in place we look forward to Wind Direct commencing construction and bringing the wind project online later this year.”
Matthew Clayton, director for Triodos Renewables said, “Triodos Renewables is delighted to have worked with the Roy Humphrey Group and Wind Direct to acquire this wind project, and we are very much looking forward to working with them throughout the construction and operation of the project.
“The addition of this project increases our sustainable energy capacity by 13% to 42MW. The ‘brown field’ nature of the site fits well with our strategy to develop sensitively sited sustainable energy. We are also pleased to have attracted finance from Triodos Bank to help fund the project.”
Suffolk County Council stated their aim in 2007 to become the greenest county in the UK and the Roy Humphrey Group project helps them move a step closer to achieving this goal. In addition to the green benefits, the scheme will also provide £5,000 per year towards community projects. The fund will be available once the turbines begin generating and will be administered through Mid Suffolk District Council.
