United Kingdom

Team onboarding: Lightsource bp site visits in 2023

This year, Lightsource bp hosted eight onboarding solar site visits – five in the United Kingdom, two in Spain and one in the US. A total of 285 team members, including 25 interns, were actively engaged in these informative sessions.

These site visits are designed to familiarise employees with the mechanisms of solar energy production, maintenance, and collaborative team dynamics.

Diving into the world of solar energy, our team members gained insights into gigawatt (GW) production and the aspects of solar farm maintenance. This hands-on approach allowed them to understand the fundamentals of how solar farms function and contribute to the renewable energy landscape.

The site visits included collaborative activities, fostering team spirit among participants. The site visits not only facilitated learning, but also nurtured a sense of community and shared purpose, vital in our dynamic work environment.

Lightsource bp team member holding her carved pumpkin at Manor Farm solar site“It’s my first visit to a solar farm and I’m a lawyer by profession, so it’s nice to see how what you write in contracts actually really works and the team has been phenomenal. They have been very welcoming.”

Harshita Khurana, Senior Legal Counsel

“I’ve learnt how the whole solar farm itself work; it is nice to meet people that work here as well, and getting insight into their day-to-day.”

– Vinnie Havis, Finance AssistantLightsource bp team members at a solar site

“It was actually really informative to see one of our sites first-hand in operation. I learnt about transformers, inverters and different types of fans. It’s great to see Lightsource bp in other working environments and have made great friends along the way.”

– Robert Morden, Finance Assistant (pictured right)

Biodiversity is our business

We are committed to responsible solar by developing solar farms that not only help the global energy outlook, but also our local communities. Increasing biodiversity on our solar farms is one of the ways we make sure we protect and enhance our projects and be a good neighbour.

We aim to enhance biodiversity by:

  • Sustaining and improving natural vegetation and habitat
  • Increasing acres and diversity of vegetation available to create habitat for insects, pollinators, mammals, and other wildlife.

We do that a number of different ways, including:

  • Hibernacula
  • Insect hotels
  • Bat cages
  • Entrances and exits for local wildlife.

We’re extremely proud of our biodiversity efforts, and our site visits offer our team members a chance to see our commitments in action. As part of site visits in the UK, we hold sessions where team members get to personally contribute to our biodiversity efforts and build something that will support the local environment — like a hibernaculum or insect hotels.

Learn more about our commitments to biodiversity.

Watch how the team got on at our Spanish sites

Vendimia site visit
Calamocha site visit

Behind the scenes, the success of these visits was made possible by support from our Asset Management UK, US and Spain teams, as well as Operations and Maintenance (O&M) in the UK and our EPC teams in US and Spain. Their dedication ensured a seamless and insightful experience for the participants.

Our Marketing and Communications team coordinated these onboarding days and kept photos and videos of these moments.

 

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