New ground-mounted solar farm in Jersey could drive down energy prices in future
Jersey Electricity's (JE) CEO says a ground-mount solar panel installation on the island will help reduce energy prices in the long term.
Chris Ambler told ITV News that the 4.3 MegaWatt installation in St Clement would help Jersey diversify its energy production methods and reduce its reliance on imported power.
Mr Ambler said: "One of the challenges that we have with these sorts of developments is that the cost of the energy produced is still higher than importing from France.
"However, the strategy is to get into this area of project, drive the cost down and make it more economically viable vis-à-vis imported power."
The JE boss says that if similar developments are built in other parts of the island, then the price of electricity produced by solar panels is more likely to come down.
JE currently has two other sites in Jersey earmarked for ground-mounted solar energy production and is also working on installing more roof-based solar panels across the island.
Earlier this week, JE increased islanders' electricity tariff by 7.5% from January 2025, adding around £2 extra per week to the average household bill.
The company blamed higher-than-normal wholesale energy prices for the hike.
Mr Ambler says that while the "community-based" solar development in St Clement is a step in the right direction toward driving down consumer prices, it is not an easy fix.
He said: "There's no golden nugget solution here. What we're trying to do is to develop a package of solutions and they all have a role at a level.
"One of the other really important things about this development is that it is, in a sense, temporary.
"Yes, it's got a 40-year life, but at the end of that 40-year period we can remove the solar panels and we can restore the site to bare earth."
Mr Ambler added that while Jersey sees enough sunshine in the summer to produce solar energy, the island will still need to be connected to the wider grid in the winter when daylight hours are significantly reduced.
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