A solar farm owned by Bluefield Solar Income Fund (LSE:BSIF) has been commended by independent wildlife experts for boosting biodiversity, including growing wildflowers and installing a bat roost box.
The West Raynham site, a 50-megawatt operation managed by the investment trust's manager Bluefield Partners, is the first site in the UK to receive gold certification from Wild Power, an independent certifier.
Bluefield bought the site of the former Royal Air Force West Raynham Airbase for £56.5 million after it was developed by Good Energy and then bought by China's Trina Solar in 2014 and connected to the grid in early 2015.
After taking ownership, an ecological survey by biodiversity and land management specialists from Bluefield and consultants Wychwood Biodiversity identified improvements for the site, which led to conservation grazing being carried out across an area of approximately 40 acres, and the installation of several microhabitats for protected species including birds, reptiles, and a maternity bat roost box.
A five-acre tree planting area at the north of the site offers protection to the site as well as the potential for biodiversity and environmental benefits, Bulefield said, such as maintaining habitats and biodiversity, pollution regulation, water quality regulation, soil quality and erosion regulation and water cycle support.
Joe Arafa, director at Wild Power, commended Bluefield for their work to enhance the biodiversity measures at the site and said he hopes the achievement "will encourage others to follow suit, contributing to our mission to make it easy and viable for nature to thrive at renewable energy sites".
As part of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, BSIF has committed to conducting ecological assessments across 10% of its portfolio each year.
Emma Silcocks, ESG manager at Bluefield LLP, said: “Nature is a key focus for BSIF and the certification at West Raynham is an important achievement within the fund’s wider ecological strategy. With thousands of acres of land under management, Bluefield has a great opportunity to support nature across our UK portfolio, as well as contributing to climate change mitigation through the generation of renewable energy.”