Tesco has struck a deal to buy enough solar power to run 144 of its large supermarkets, after buying up nearly two-thirds of the output of a Kentish solar park.
The Ā£450m Cleve Hill Solar park is being built near Faversham by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a London-based firm that invests in renewable and low-carbon energy in the US, UK and Australia, according to The Guardian.
The site will provide Tesco with up to 10% of its total power demands over 15 years, in a move that group chief executive Ken Murphy hailed as āa significant stepā in the grocery giantās plans to be a carbon neutral business by 2035.
Construction on the Cleve Hill site begun last year, and it is expected to be fully operational by 2025.
It is Tescoās latest step towards its sustainability goals, with the grocer having announced a number of other green energy initiatives over the last five years with wind farms and other solar parks across the country.
With the addition of Cleve Hill, these power purchase agreements will cover 45% of Tesco UKās ā or 36% of the groupās ā expected electricity demand in 2030.
The Cleve Hill park will feature over 560,000 solar panels, as well as energy storage infrastructure. French state-owned utitlity company EDF will also provide power balancing services.
Keith Gains, managing director and UK regional lead at Quinbrook said Cleve Hill was a āblueprint for the next generation of energy transition infrastructure in the UKā.
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