Isle of Wight's GKN Aerospace unveils new 1.2MW solar farm

The solar farm covers 3.9 acres of previously unused land and features 2,734 panels.

It is capable of generating enough energy to power the equivalent of 290 UK households a year.

The Cowes solar farm is one of four GKN Aerospace sites using solar energy, alongside Western Approach and its UK Global Technology Centre, both in Bristol, and Papendrecht, in The Netherlands.

Speaking at an unveiling on Friday, October 25, principal industrial engineer Joe Coltham told the County Press: “It’s connected directly into our manufacturing facility’s high voltage ring main and is expected to generate around 20 per cent of the site’s electricity demand.

“We currently have a zero-export agreement with SSE, which means we can’t currently export anything back to the grid.

Richard Quigley, Garry Hernes and Joe Coltham at the site. (Image: County Press) “We don’t expect to need to. We think we’ll use the vast majority of it, but we’d like to reapply for that in the future.

“It was a group decision. We were discussing the need for solar on our site, and it was brought up that we had this spare field.

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“We did look at potentially installing them on our roofs, but the structural integrity just isn’t there.

“They’re not strong enough to take the extra weight of the panels.

GKN in East Cowes. (Image: County Press) “They’re aging, it’s quite an old building complex, and we’d have to reinforce them, which would mean a lot of extra cost on top of the solar panels.

“It would have also been very disruptive for the site if we had scaffolding everywhere for the duration of the construction.”

Asked why the company settled on 2,700 panels, Joe said: “It was sized for the site load.

“We sent our half-hourly data for the year, and it was sized off of that.

The new solar panels at GKN in East Cowes. (Image: County Press) “We wouldn’t be able to use anymore unless we had battery storage.

“We’ll have to review the potential case for batteries, but I think our priority should be looking at what we can do at Falcon Yard.

“Solar car park shelters are looking like our most viable option there.”

Garry Hernes, site director for GKN Aerospace’s East Cowes facility, said: “This is a great step forward for the site and the Island in the journey towards net-zero carbon emissions.

“A lot of hard work has gone into this project, and I would like to extend a massive thanks to everyone who has supported and helped make it a reality.”

Drone flying at GKN in East Cowes. (Image: County Press)