Jersey Potato Farm Chosen for Channel Islands’ Biggest Rooftop Solar Project

A major renewable energy project is set to take shape at a Jersey potato farm, where the Channel Islands’ largest rooftop solar installation will be built early next year.

Jersey Electricity (JE) has secured an agreement with the Jersey Royal Company to install thousands of solar panels on the roof of Peacock Farm in Trinity. Covering around 8,000 square metres, the array is expected to produce about 935,000 units of electricity a year — enough to power 128 all-electric homes annually for at least 25 years. The electricity generated will be fed back into the Island’s power grid.

Under the deal, JE will lease the roof space from the Jersey Royal Company, which forms part of the Albert Bartlett Group. The new array will be almost 40% larger than any previous rooftop solar scheme in the Channel Islands.

JE chief executive Chris Ambler said the project builds on a successful partnership with Albert Bartlett, following an earlier installation at the company’s potato processing plant on Trinity Hill. That first scheme has generated around 850,000 kilowatt hours of electricity since 2023.

Construction work at Peacock Farm is due to begin in the new year and will become JE’s eleventh large-scale commercial rooftop solar project. Meanwhile, solar panels at the airport cargo shed and St Clement Parish Hall are expected to come online before the end of this year.

Jersey Electricity has set a target of supplying up to 5,000 homes with locally generated solar power by 2030. With two new ground-mounted solar sites also due to be commissioned in the new year, the company says it will be close to reaching 40% of that goal.