The future’s bright for Costessey solar project
August 2011

The Norse-run waste recovery plant at Costessey is making energy history in Norfolk with an installation of solar panels on a major scale.

The Norse Group’s £300,000 investment has seen a 100KW photovoltaic system of around 700 square metres installed on the roof – by far the biggest of its kind in the county.

Over the 25-year life of the installation, the Group expects to save at least £116,000 in electricity costs, and generate more than £623,000 income from feed-in tariffs, where energy suppliers must make regular payments to organisations generating electricity from renewable sources.

Paul Cockaday, Strategic Carbon Manager, explained: “The site uses a lot of electricity and it was a good fit in that it brings together waste recovery and renewable energy. Plus it has a very large roof space that faces due south.”

“We were able to provide most of the technical services in house. And we were also able to draw on the wider Norse group, tapping into structural and mechanical engineering expertise from Robson Liddle, and HAMSON’s electrical engineering skills. “The panels would never offset all the electricity the MRF needs – they’ll probably provide about 8% and we will sell some energy back to the grid, perhaps early in the morning, late in the evenings, or at weekends.”

“It is difficult to say exactly how much we will save, because electricity prices look set to continue to go up, and the feed-in tariffs are also linked to the Retail Price Index, but we expect the installation to have paid for itself in 14 years – maybe sooner when RPI is taken into account – and so we have effectively future proofed this part of the business in energy terms.”

“Norse knew that the feed-in tariffs were set to change in August, which meant the system had to be up and running by the end of July to lock in at the higher rate. Developments on this scale would not be cost-effective under the revised tariffs, but the expertise gained is set to benefit Norfolk County Council.”

“We are supporting the County Council on their carbon reduction plans and £0.5m has been set aside for photovoltaic systems, on about 10 schools and some fire stations and libraries. It means the County Council will benefit from what we learned on the Costessey project.”