180 of Spelsberg’s TK enclosures have been supplied to a solar farm in Cornwall to enable the installer, EOS Energy, to complete the project in less than seven weeks
Last summer Hendra Holiday Park commissioned EOS Energy to install a 1.15MW solar farm on its premises in Cornwall. At the time, the government’s plans to reduce the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) was fast approaching, and as such, the project had a very tight timescale and had to be completed within seven weeks in order to take advantage of the higher FiT rate.
Due to its BritSol mounting system and the help provided by enclosure manufacturer, Spelsberg, EOS was able to complete this ambitious undertaking on time.
Warwickshire-based EOS Energy, a specialist division of Alumet, is dedicated to photovoltaic installations – providing turnkey solutions for a number of sectors including domestic, commercial and agricultural. Its mounting systems allow fast and easy modular installation of PV projects of any size. Indeed, such was EOS Energy’s confidence in the BritSol mounting system, that a £200,000 penalty clause was written into the contract that the company would lose if the installation was not connected by the target date of 8th July.
Supplier back-up
To meet the tight deadline of the project it was clear that EOS Energy’s suppliers needed to provide components as quickly as possible, as Lee Summers, EOS Energy’s technical director explained, “The Hendra solar farm project represented an exciting challenge for us. Our manufacturing techniques have been developed to provide quick and reliable installation and the project was an opportunity to prove this on a larger scale. As with all manufacturing jobs though, we can only be as good as our suppliers – when you make a commitment to complete a project in such a short timeframe it is essential that every component supplier is able to specify and deliver the correct parts in the correct numbers on as short a lead time as possible.”
Spelsberg were approached to supply 180 junction boxes that would be able to survive the harsh outdoor environments that the solar farm will be subjected to. The location of the application meant that each box needed to be able to withstand regular exposure to UV light as well as extreme temperature variations and heavy rain. Spelsberg was able to specify and supply its TK polycarbonate enclosures within four days.
The TK enclosure range, which includes hundreds of sizes and options, is manufactured using high strength polycarbonate to provide a rugged housing for sensitive electronics. The enclosure provides IP66 and UV protection making it well suited for use in outdoor applications.
Daren Field, area sales manager for Spelsberg, commented, “We hold a large amount of stock at our headquarters in Telford. This means that when a project requires quick delivery we can often turn an order around in a matter of days. The Hendra solar farm project was exciting to be involved with – while Spelsberg has been working within the European PV industry for over 20 years, it is still an emerging market in the UK and we are happy to be able to offer our experience to a British owned and operated company that is taking on such ambitious projects.”
The project was successfully completed within the seven week deadline, thus beating the FiT deadline and making the Hendra Solar Farm one of the largest PV projects to be installed by a wholly British owned contractor to date. In addition, Spelsberg was able to guarantee its products for over 25 years operating life.
