Maker of Cathedral City cheese has agreed 30-year power purchase agreement
Construction has been completed on a 5MW solar project by developer Lightsource BP, which will deliver clean power to the maker of Cathedral City cheese.
The solar project is located at the brand’s creamery in Davidstow, Cornwall, and includes a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the cheesemaker’s parent company Saputo Dairy.
It follows an agreement between Lightsource BP and Saputo Dairy to develop 25GW of solar projects by 2025.
Zosia Riesner, Lightsource BP’s director of power markets for Europe, said the firm was in the “privileged position” to be able to support corporations such as Saputo invest in renewable power without relying on public sector funding.
“As governments continue to strengthen their sustainability policies and targets, our subsidy-free PPA solutions, and partnerships with corporations, are vital in helping governments achieve their net-zero ambitions,” she said.
The Davidstow project includes a new substation and cable connecting the solar park to the creamery to deliver an estimated 5,307MWh of electricity annually, covering 10 per cent of the creamery’s annual electricity demand and equivalent to powering approximately 1,400 UK homes or 3,400 electric vehicles a year.
Tom Atherton, president and chief operating officer of Saputo Dairy UK, welcomed the latest step in the company’s renewables development plans. “I’m delighted that the solar park at our Davidstow creamery in Cornwall is now fully operational,” he said. “We are always looking for ways to improve our environmental impact and this project enables us to save more than 1,470 tonnes of CO2 a year – that is the equivalent of taking 810 fuel-burning cars off the road.”
The news comes in the same week that the government announced the latest wave of funding support for clean tech entrepreneurs, including £1m ring-fenced for projects in Cornwall in recognition of the region’s hosting of last year’s G7 Summit.
