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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Lauren Gilmour & Jordan Shepherd

Around 9,000 solar panels to be installed in Fife after plans get green light

Plans to install thousands of solar panels at a Scots packaging site have been approved by the council.

Fife Council have given the green light to install around 9,000 panels at a Diageo packaging site in Leven.

They will generate up to 22% of the plant's annual electricity consumption and up to 60% during the summer months.

The scheme is expected to be one of the largest of its type in Scotland, producing enough energy to power 2,500 homes for a year.

Working in partnership with energy firm E.On and Emtec energy, the solar farm will be built on vacant land in the south-east corner of Diageo's 150-acre site.

Diageo's bottling and packaging site produces around 40 million cases of spirits per year and is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2026.

Gavin Brogan, operations director at Diageo Leven, said: "It's fantastic to make this project a reality, creating a more resilient and energy-efficient plant.

"Working in partnership with E.On and Emtec Energy, the solar array will generate nearly a quarter of our annual energy use and is a fantastic step forward towards meeting our net zero commitments.

"Diageo is well-rooted in Leven and we are committed to playing a positive role in our local community, so we will continue to invest in projects like this one to improve our impact on the environment and future-proof our operations.

"We have a number of those projects in the pipeline, including looking into sustainable heating solutions which the solar farm development will help to power.

Stuart Beasley, director of solutions sales at E.On, said: "Now, more than ever, people are choosing to work with or buy from greener businesses, and at E.On we've decades of experience in delivering affordable and sustainable solutions that help businesses with their lower carbon ambitions."

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