Tritax Symmetry Rugby encompasses seven buildings spanning nearly 2 million square feet of prime logistics space. The initial four buildings, completed in 2023, are now occupied by Iron Mountain, a global leader in information management services. In line with its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions for its occupants, Tritax, the site's developer and owner, devised innovative plans for a solar PV scheme on the warehouse roofs, providing a significantly higher PV generation capacity compared to similar sites. However, the plans faced a pressing challenge: the local grid network lacked the electrical capacity necessary to support the occupants’ usage, potentially overshadowing the solar PV initiative.
The BasePower Solution
As no electrical generation was originally allowed at this greenfield site until the 2030s, getting the grid to explore any options was a significant challenge. Only 2MVA was originally thought available but through a series of negotiations with specialist sub-contractors and the DNO, BasePower was eventually able to secure a required 6MVA capacity including metering and billing. This allowed occupancy, commissioning, and full occupation to meet Tritax’s original schedule.
BasePower also created a fully-specified, costed fallback 'island mode' design in parallel, as it was not initially clear that the desired capacity would be possible. Fortunately, this was not needed as enough capacity was brought on in time for occupation.
As the owner's engineer, BasePower then oversaw the construction and commissioning of the majority of the power infrastructure, working to ensure that it met both the landlord's and occupiers' requirements.
