Sustainably powering our investments: Our visit to Wroughton Solar Farm

*all content contained within the video is covered in the below article. 

Wiltshire Pension Fund has made a strong commitment to sustainable investing, we were pleased to recently announce our £100m commitment to the Wessex Gardens Fund, the cornerstone investment in our innovative Climate Opportunities (Clops) portfolio. Wessex Gardens is a collaboration between six LGPS funds with Schroders Greencoat, this fund is dedicated to accelerating the development of renewable assets across the South West of England.

The first investment in Wessex Gardens completed in January 2024, the largest operational solar transaction in the UK acquiring the Toucan Energy Portfolio. Wiltshire's share of this investment was £70m.  

The largest single site in the portfolio, and one of the largest in the UK, is based in our very own County, in Wroughton.

With the site being in our backyard we jumped at the chance to visit and understand how it will generate sustainable returns for the fund into the future. This also meant we were able to invite more of the team along as part of our shadowing scheme, promoting our value of One Fund. We were also joined by some of our Committee including our chairman, to enhance their understanding how this enormous site provides sustainable power and investment returns.

The group arrived, having travelled through light rainstorms to the site entrance, the strong wind and wide open space reminding us of this sites previous life as an airfield. After gaining access and driving to the solar panels thankfully the weather improved, with the sun shining making it perfect weather for harvesting photons.

Once we had completed all the safety briefings and received our hi-vis jackets we were able get close to the solar panels and get a sense of the grand scale of this solar site. The site covers 88 acers with 200,000 solar panels generating 60MW of power, which is enough to power 21,000 homes. The solar arrays at this site were installed in 2016 and are taller than at many other locations reaching above our heads. From the ground you could see solar panels stretching seemingly for miles, the drone footage and images giving us the best sense of the size.

We were shown the essential equipment which makes a solar farm work, starting from the panels, with electricity generated here passing onto the inverter which converts the DC power into AC power which can be passed into the national grid. The inverter makes an audible hum, increasing in volume when the amount of power generated increases. With clouds passing in front of the sun we could audibly hear the fluctuation in power generation. With no homes nearby the noise is not an issue, this is something the team consider for sites located next to homes.

The power generated at this site is covered by a 15-year fixed agreement with a large global bank with prices agreed per MW hour of energy produced, this is also supported by a 20-year UK government subsidy. These agreements provide a secure, inflation-linked source of sterling income, which is a great match for our liabilities, with the return anticipated to be around 8%. The site is 8 years old and has the potential to run for up to 40 years, as long as suitable spare parts are available and the equipment is well maintained.

On exploring the site we encountered deer, swifts, birds of prey and a beautiful hare, biodiversity protection is an important consideration for these sites. Careful design is also needed to protect the panels and cables from damage by wildlife, mitigations such as making sure all cables are secured and buried underground are important. As we walked past row after row of solar panels we discovered the old runway, and at the same moment were treated to a dramatic low level fly past by an RAF transport aircraft, reminding us of this sites historic purpose. 

Conclusion

Our visit was a perfect way to learn more about our investment, share knowledge of the investments with our wider pensions team and the committee. We were able better understand the work Schroders Greencoat are doing to protect our investments. We look forward to seeing how the remaining £30m of our commitment to Wessex Gardens will be invested in renewable assets across the South West.