Showcasing sustainable energy – local MP visits Bedfordshire solar farm

As the urgency to combat climate change intensifies, governments around the world are taking decisive actions to transition towards a greener future. In the United Kingdom, the government has committed to achieving Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to decarbonise the electricity network by 2035. Lightsource bp is committed to enabling those targets for business, utilities and industry.

We invited Andrew Selous MP (South West Bedfordshire) to visit our Manor Farm solar project, in his constituency, to provide a first-hand demonstration of how ground-mount solar is vital to meeting the UK’s sustainability targets. On a typical bright if grey, and thankfully dry, May Day last week Mr Selous met five members of Lightsource bp staff, who took him on a guided tour of the project. Highlights included a visit to the bug hotels and insect refuges created by Lightsource bp staff to provide additional habitats for wildlife, and an impromptu photoshoot with the flock of sheep who call the solar farm their home.

Manor Farm, a 7.4MWp solar project located in Eggington, Bedfordshire, generates enough renewable electricity to meet the equivalent energy needs of 2,045 households a year, and saves the same amount of carbon emissions annually as taking nearly 800 cars off the road. The project perfectly showcases the way in which solar can deliver a broad range of benefits beyond renewable energy – habitat enhancements designed to boost biodiversity and a project layout constructed to provide a safe, secure and sheltered environment for grazing livestock, allowing the land to retain an agricultural use as well as generating electricity.

We were proud to show Mr Selous the project, and to demonstrate the role that ground-mount solar plays in meeting the “trilemma” currently facing the UK – energy security, cost of living crisis and climate change.