Jersey Electricity and La Mare Wine Estate have joined forces to start testing which crops fare best growing around ground-mounted solar panels thus demonstrating to farmers how these can work alongside agriculture.
And it is hoped that three other areas in St Clement, at Sorel in St John and La Rue d’Olive in St Mary will soon have similar solar installations with one soon to be constructed at the first site and the others having received in principal planning approval. These will generate electricity which will be exported to the grid for the benefit of all Islanders.
JE and La Mare have installed a demonstration ground-mount solar installation which will be used to help power the wine estate with about 2,550 kWh of energy per year being produced from the four panels.
A wildflower meadow will be planted around the panels to encourage wildlife and pollinators to flourish and visitors to La Mare will be able to view the installation as it forms part of the venue’s walking tour.
Agrivoltaics is the term used for land which is used for solar energy production and agriculture.
Tim Crowley, managing director of La Mare Vineyards, said: ‘For the past two decades La Mare has been a leader in green business practice so this new partnership is a very natural one for us and we are delighted to be working with such a passionate team who share the same values for a sustainable and greener Island for us all. Agrivoltaics is an exciting new area for us to be involved in and we look forward to learning and developing new ideas with the JE team.’
Mark Preece, JE’s chief operating officer, said: ‘It is an exciting time in Jersey’s locally-generated renewable energy journey and this first phase in our partnership with La Mare Wine Estate has many benefits. We are excited that these four panels give us the opportunity to dispel myths around ground-mount solar – for example that no light passes through and farming and wildlife can’t flourish around the panels – and to show future potential partners what a ground-mount site could look like if they decided to work with us on a ground-mount project.’
He thanked La Mare for joining JE in this ‘ground-breaking concept’ for local renewable energy production, agriculture and tourism.
‘This is a brilliant opportunity for our community to engage with ground-mount solar and learn more about the innovative technology that will generate local energy for our community while heralding a new agricultural crop for our fields.’
