The Royal Court has granted a 25-year lease for JE to install and operate the panels on the roof of Jersey Dairy, potentially generating half a million units a year of electricity.
Local contractors SunWorks are expected to start building the 2,500sq-m array early next month.
It is due to be operational in November and will become the fourth solar array JE owns, alongside the installations at La Collette Power Station and B&Q car park, and the large array currently being built at Woodside Farms in Trinity.
JE chief executive Chris Ambler said: ‘We are delighted to cement another 25-year partnership with a local business for the on-Island generation of solar power. Working in collaboration with more local companies, we believe solar power can have an increased long-term role in our energy system. It sits comfortably alongside our imported renewable hydropower which already accounts for a third of the electricity used in Jersey.
‘We want to see Jersey make a green recovery in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis and we believe projects like this, in partnership with local businesses, will help to not only stimulate economic recovery but also make it a green recovery.’
Jersey Dairy managing director Eamon Fenlon added: ‘Jersey Dairy and our dairy farmers are committed to adopting good environmental practices and this project fits with that commitment and the many other positive environmental initiatives that the dairy industry is actively implementing.’
