hitachi rail europe
Photon Energy installed a 1 MWp PV system on the Hitachi Rail manufacturing facility in Newton Aycliffe working alongside Macquarie Bank.
The system comprises 3800 PV modules mounted in four arrays on the roof with the inverters located within the building. It has a total capacity of 1 MW and is expected to generate around 824,000 kWh of energy per annum, approximately 20% of the total site requirement. Remote performance monitoring capability has also been installed to ensure the system performs as designed.
Hitachi Rail is part of a consortium which was awarded a £5.8bn contract to finance, design, manufacture, maintain and service the next generation of intercity carriages to improve the UK’s mainline rail services.
The PV system was financed by Macquarie Lending who signed a 25 year Power Purchase Agreement and a 25 year Roof Lease Agreement with Hitachi.
Photon Energy also had to ensure the PV systems met Macquarie’s investment conditions and had a predicted performance ratio of at least 83%. Initial commissioning of the system gave a performance ratio of 91.35%.
Jenny Palfreyman, Senior Engineer of Photon Energy, said, “Hitachi Rail went through a detailed and comprehensive process of competitive tendering, risk review and intensive commercial and contract negotiations in order to award the contract to Photon Energy.”
Equipment summary:
System size: 1 MWp
Energy generation: 824,000 kWh/year
Carbon emissions saving: tCO₂/year.
PV modules: Trina Solar 265 Wp
Inverters: ABB
Mounting System: K2 Systems Speedrail
