Harnessing the earth’s natural energy

Commercial solar

Head OfficeRegus PeterboroughCity Centre,Stuart House, East Wing,St Johns Street,Peterborough PE1 5DD.

Telephone: 01733 475500

Solihull OfficeThe Oracle Building,Oracle Drive,Blythe Valley Park,Solihull B90 8AD.

Telephone: 0121 506 9520

London Office53-59 Chandos Place,London WC2N 4HS.

Telephone: 0207 812 6430

Edinburgh Office4 Darnaway Street,Edinburgh EH3 6BG.

Telephone: 01778 342442

To find out more please contact:Warehouse 186 kWp

Cold Store 250 kWp

Lark Energy is part of the Larkfleet Group of companies,a privately owned construction and development groupbased in the East Midlands.

Lark Energy is part of the Larkfleet Group of companies. Larkfleet Limited is an MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme)Approved Installer. MCS is the certification mark for onsite sustainable energy technologies.

www.larkenergy.co.uk

February 2015

The Installation Process If you are interested in PV, contact Lark Energy and wewill guide you through the following process:

1 We will undertake an initial free desktop survey ofyour property using Google Earth.

2 Once we have confirmed that the roof or land issuitable, we will make an appointment with you tocarry out a site visit. During the site visit we will carryout a detailed assessment of the roof/land andelectrical connectivity. We will also answer anyquestions you may have.

3 We will then generate a quotation pack for youdetailing the proposed installation, how much it willcost, what funding options are available and thepotential financial returns.

4 If the quotation is acceptable, we will either ask youfor a 25% deposit or for you to sign an agreementwith the funder. Once this has been received, we willcarry out an EPC assessment, a full structural survey(for roof installations), apply for planning permission(if required) and request a connection to the localelectricity network.

5 Following confirmation of planning and the ability toconnect to the electricity network, we will confirmstart and finish dates for the installation.

6 Once the installation is completed we will guide youthrough the process of claiming the Feed in Tariff.

Our solar solutions are designed to enhance the value of existing buildings and land,reduce consumption of grid energy and reduce the carbon intensity of operations.

We canoffer you

various innovativefunding optionseither with or

without aroof lease.

Why choose solar?Solar is the fastest growing source of energy in the UK and globally. It enablespeople and businesses to generate their own independent supply of energy thathelps cut costs and reduce carbon emissions.

Earn an excellent return on your investment

Cut your energy costs

Shrink your carbon footprint

Support UK jobs

Reduce your reliance on thebig energy companies

Lark Energy

www.larkenergy.co.uk

A solar installationwill reduce youroverheads and earnan income for 20 years.

Lark Energy’s leading facts and figuresNumber of rooftops installed

800Consented

318 MWpConstructed and connected

150 MWp (enough clean energyfor 37,000 homes)Operate and maintain

114 MWpCO2 Saved

67,000 tonnes per annum

Our track record

Lark Energy is part of the Larkfleet Group ofcompanies, a privately owned constructionand development group based inLincolnshire. Founded in 2000, the Group isa diversified business with activities rangingfrom housebuilding to waste management.

The Group has an increasing focus onthe energy sector and invests part ofits profits in early stage energy technology businesses.

Lark Energy was established in March 2010and focuses on financing, developing andinstalling commercial and utility scale solarprojects for our clients and investors. Thecompany has grown rapidly and nowemploys 45 full-time staff with a turnoverfor 2013/14 of just under £60m.

Lark Energy is the proud winner of multipleindustry awards for both land and rooftopinstallations. These include the ‘MostSuccessful Ground Mount Site’ in the SolarPower Portal Awards and ‘Solar Award forExcellence’ in the Solar UK Awards.

Our team

Lark Energy is committed to thedevelopment of a sustainable, long-termsolar industry in the UK. Our staff of 45professionals, based at offices in MarketDeeping, Solihull and Edinburgh, haveunmatched experience in solardevelopment, design, constructionand maintenance.

The company’s Managing Director,Jonathan Selwyn, has over 20 years’experience in the environmental technologyand renewable energy sectors. He is aBoard member of the Solar TradeAssociation, the leading voice for the solar

www.larkenergy.co.uk

Why choose Lark EnergyLark Energy is a market leader in the rapidly growing UK commercial and utilityscale solar industry. We undertake high quality projects of all sizes for our clients and investors, ranging from 30 kWp rooftop installations to 30 MWp ground-mounted solar farms.

industry in the UK. He and his colleaguessit on many other government committeesand industry steering groups and helpeddevelop the industry’s first code of conduct- the ’10 commitments’.

Our commitment to you

Our highly experienced commercialsales team will guide you through themost cost-effective options designedto deliver an excellent return oninvestment.

Our specialist in-house engineers willdesign the most efficient solar systemto suit your needs.

We will, at all times, use top tierproducts with industry leadingwarranties.

Our construction team will deliver afirst class installation to the highestindustry standards.

Our in-house maintenance team willensure that the system continues tooperate with optimal efficiencythroughout its lifetime.*

* Each system comes with a standard 2 year warranty.Lark Energy offers a range of extended warrantiesto suit your needs.

Ellough 15 MWp

Cold store 250 kWp

Awarded to Ketton Solar Farm

G’s Growers LtdSize

250 kWpNumber of panels

1,000Annual energy production

208,224 kWhAnnual CO2 reduction

62 tonnesReturn on investment

19.5%

KettonSize

12 MWpNumber of panels

50,644Annual energy production

11,400,000 kWh(enough energy to power3,200 homes a year)Annual CO2 reduction

3,420 tonnes

G’s have been growing, packing andmarketing fresh vegetables for over 60years. They are an intensive energy userbut take their commitment to theenvironment seriously. They are committedto a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by2020. In 2013, the Ramsey site won theprestigious Marks and Spencer Plan Aenvironment award.

They have been implementing energyefficiency and renewable energy measuresfor some time and in 2013 they awardedLark Energy a contract to install solarpanels on their cold store.

On the face of it this was a straight forwardroof-top installation on a site with a large,incoming high voltage grid connection.However, due to local generation and gridconstraints UKPN, the local distributionnetwork operator (DNO), refused to providea conventional connection fearing adverseimpacts on the network.

Fortuitously, UKPN had just launched agovernment-funded pilot project designedto find new ways of connecting renewableenergy in areas of constrained grid. The‘Flexible Plug and Play’ pilot scheme seeksto overcome these constraints by allowingthe DNO to remotely manage exportedenergy to the grid. It aims to enablecheaper and faster integration of distributedgeneration, such as solar, into the electricitydistribution network.

Lark Energy suggested that G’s installationwould be a good candidate for the pilot.However, as the first project of its type in theUK, Lark Energy had to navigate extensivedesign and contract requirements to even

Cement manufacture is an energy andcarbon-intensive process. Whilst significantreductions in CO2 have been made by theindustry, there has to date been limitedadoption of renewable energy generation.Lark Energy, working in partnership withArmstrong Energy and Hanson Cement,has designed, developed and constructedan innovative 12 MWp project which, for thefirst time, brings significant solar power to amajor UK cement works.

Ketton Solar Farm is comprised of 2phases. The first phase is 9 MWp situatedon 20 hectares of former quarry belongingto Hanson Cement in Rutland, and consistsof 38,544 modules. The second phase is 3 MWp and is sited on an adjoining field of7 hectares, consists of 12,100 modules andtogether they will generate enough energyto cover around 13% of the Cement work’sannual consumption

The project was jointly developed by LarkEnergy and Armstrong Energy with thelatter providing funding partly through aninnovative PPA arrangement with Hanson. Italso has a pioneering approach tomanaging the grid connection. Lark Energyhas designed the solar farm to enableactive and reactive power managementand to protect the grid from reverse current.This has a number of advantages, includingminimising the need for costly 33kvupgrade work, reducing the energy costsfor Hanson and enabling the inverters to beused as capacitor batteries at night.

As the proposed project fell wholly withinthe working cement works, and could notbe seen from the adjacent village, thecouncil didn't receive a single objection andit received unanimous approval fromRutland County Council in late July 2013.

The power from the solar farm connectsinto Hanson’s private 11kv network on threeseparate circuits. This means that individualswitchgear and transformer sets arerequired for each circuit. The 11kv networkthen connects to Western PowerDistribution’s 33kv public grid network via astep up transformer. Various upgrades ofthe customer and DNO substations had totake place to enable the connections.

have the project accepted. Once accepted,Lark Energy then had to come up with theappropriate technical solutions required byUKPN, including limiting the size to 250 kWp, and designing and installingspecialist active network monitoring andpower management systems.

Once the solar system was installed, it tookmany weeks for the monitoring andmanagement system to be perfected sothat all data could be accessed remotely inreal time and connection could becontrolled by UKPN. It is now, however, fullyfunctioning and providing significant cleanpower to G's cold store.

The project will feed into research that willbe shared with all DNOs in the UK who facethe challenge of connecting high levels ofrenewable generation over the comingyears. It will enable them to explore cheaper‘interruptible’ connections using newcontrol and monitoring smart technologiesto improve the utilisation of existingnetworks instead of incurring expensivereinforcements.

As the site has extensive cold storagefacilities and is operational 365 days of theyear it is not anticipated that the generationwill ever be interrupted and the companycan expect an excellent return on theirinvestment, a substantial reduction incarbon emissions and comprehensiveoperational support from Lark Energy.

In 2013, the Ramseysite won theprestigious Marksand Spencer Plan Aenvironment award

“Lark Energy was theinstaller of choicewhen it came toHanson’s solar farmat its Ketton site.Having provedthemselves with otherlarge ground basedinstallations in theUK, Lark haddemonstrated theycould meet our briefof a safe andprofessionalinstallation”Mark Cox MBA, Hanson Cement

Case studies…

www.larkenergy.co.uk www.larkenergy.co.uk

The owners of this very large grain-store,with a high voltage connection, wanted tooffset substantial energy bills from graindrying and moving.

Lark Energy was recommended by aneighbouring landowner with whom we hadrecently developed a large solar farm. Weproposed a 250 kWp ground-mountedsystem adjacent to the grain-store withpanels mounted in a two panel portraitformat on piled steel frames. Following adetailed planning submission, the localplanning authority consented the schemewith a requirement to fence the site with1.5m high stock proof fencing and someplanting to the south of the site.

As with many projects of this size, theconnection to the customer’s electricitysystem presented a number of challengesincluding the need for a new distributionboard and a stand-alone internetconnection for performance monitoring.

Lark Energy developed the award winning 33 MWp solar farm at the former World War IIairfield at Wymeswold, near Loughborough.

The project consists of over 125,000 panels,spread over an area of 150 acres andprovides 8,500 homes in the surroundingcommunity with their annual energy needs.The project was by far the largest to havebeen developed and built in the UK when itconnected to the grid in March 2013.

Lark Energy worked very closely with the siteowners, the Prestwold Estate, the localcommunity and Charnwood Borough Counciland, despite its scale, achieved planningconsent without a single public objection.

We faced many challenges in building theproject, particularly in relation to the gridconnection, weather and changes ingovernment policy.

We had to change the 6km grid connectionroute at short notice after it was discoveredthe main bridge had no further capacity. Thenew route necessitated a directional drill

under the River Soar and several adjacentflooded fields.

It was not until the beginning of February2013 that the first pile was driven into theground, by which time weeks of continuousrain had made the site waterlogged. At theheight of construction some 450contractors were on site working in verydifficult conditions.

Lark Energy also had to work around theexisting users of the site, notably amotorsports company, who use a large partof the runway within the site for track day car experiences.

It was nevertheless completed andconnected in a record 7 weeks, meeting thedeadline at the end of March 2013.

Wymeswold demonstrates Lark Energy’sexpertise and capability in projectdevelopment, community involvement andgetting even the most complex projectcompleted to time and budget.

“Wymeswold is anexcellent example ofhow large scale solarcan co-exist with thenatural environment”Greg Barker, Energy Minister

www.larkenergy.co.uk

Poultry FarmSize

470 kWp across 5 sitesAnnual energy production

420,000 kWhAnnual CO2 reduction

126 tonnesReturn on investment

18.5%

Grain StoreSize

250 kWpAnnual energy production

214,231 kWhAnnual CO2 reduction

71 tonnesReturn on investment

17%

WymeswoldSize

33 MWpNumber of panels

125,000Annual energy production

31,350,000 kWh(enough energy to power8,500 homes a year)Annual CO2 reduction

9,405 tonnes

Manufacturing PlantSize

150 kWpAnnual energy production

119,502 kWhAnnual CO2 reduction

36 tonnesReturn on investment

15%

Coldstore andWarehouseSize

2 x 50 kWp systemsAnnual energy production

82,000 kWhAnnual CO2 reduction

25 tonnesReturn on investment

18%

The Directors of a leading private companyin the Food and Agribusiness industryasked Lark Energy to help them devise asolar PV rollout plan across their poultryfarming portfolio. This involved a detailedassessment of multiple sites across EastAnglia and the East Midlands. Lark Energyinvestigated the energy requirements andinfrastructure for each site together withassociated grid capacity.

Lark Energy’s assessment concluded thatthe best option was to use the landadjacent to five poultry buildings forground-mounted installations. Lark Energysecured planning permission on the fiveproposed sites and then devised acomprehensive construction and deliveryprogramme. This included strict health andsafety criteria being observed including bio-security measures for working in proximityto the poultry farms.

All projects were delivered to time andbudget and are now contributing to astrong return on investment, lower energybills and reduced carbon emissions.

The owners of this manufacturing andwarehouse facility, with substantial energybills, were looking for ways to cut costs,reduce their carbon emissions and realise ahealthy return on investment.

Their double pitched, East West facing roofwas the ideal size for 150 kWp. Thissolution gives good generation throughoutthe day and the total on-site consumptioncan often be better than for a south-facingroof. The array was designed aroundexisting skylights so that natural daylightwas not obscured from the warehouse.

In order to pass the structural survey, alightweight fixing system was used tosecure the panels to the roof using themanufacturer’s design layout andbenefitting from their independent warranty.

The Landlord of the site decided to install50 kWp solar PV systems on bothbuildings. The tenants agreed and werehappy with the positive PR that comes withon-site renewable energy generation. ThePV systems have improved the energyperformance rating of the buildings and thelandlord benefits from regular generationand export tariff payments.

Both systems were installed just before afeed in tariff deadline, and in order tosecure the higher feed in tariff rate, LarkEnergy co-ordinated several teams ofroofing contractors and electrical engineerson site at the same time.

Case studies…

www.larkenergy.co.uk