Sir Winston Churchill’s birthplace will power more than 2,200 homes with solar.
The wartime leader grew up at Blenheim Palace, in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Blenheim Estate has built Weaveley Solar Park capable of producing up to seven megawatts of clean, renewable energy per year.
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It is enough to power at least 2,200 homes.
The 20-acre site is producing more green energy than it uses and has a 30-year lifespan.
It is part of the estate’s commitment to become Net Zero by 2027, as reported by What’s the Jam.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site is known for being the birthplace of Winston Churchill.
Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace in 1874.
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The estate managing director, Roy Cox, said: “The Weaveley solar project has been a fantastic learning process which we can apply to larger infrastructure projects in the future.
“We will be sharing data and all of the learnings, good and bad, as the site matures.
“It’s also been a real team effort, not only from our own sector experts in innovation and natural capital playing key roles, but through working closely with our partners, who have built the scheme.
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“This land previously had zero biodiversity and was exhausted from years of intensive farming.
“But we’re already seeing an uplift in the site’s biodiversity, thanks to a number of measures including the flower and nectar-rich mixes already sown, wild bee habitats and thriving hedges for food and shelter.
“These uplifts are being measured through a pioneering sensor network to measure thermal efficiency, monitor and understand ecosystems and through open source live data show how these are performing as the field regenerates itself.”
The site will also provide sheep grazing throughout the year and welcome school visits.
This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Blenheim Estate’s hydropower scheme on the River Glyme.
Which has to date produced 270 megawatts of electricity, an average of over 25 megawatts a year – the equivalent of powering nine homes or generating enough green energy to drive 780,346 miles in an electric vehicle.
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