physics

Westmill Solar Co-operative

Westmill Solar Co-operative is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Westmill Solar Co-operative rather than just read about it. In short: Westmill Solar Co-operative is the industrial and provident society that owns the Westmill Solar Park in Oxfordshire, England, believed to be the largest community-owned photovoltaic power station in the world. Project The project was originally conceived by Adam Twine, the pioneer behind the neighbouring Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative, built in 2011 and registered for the UK feed-in tariffs.

Key takeaways

Westmill Solar Co-operative belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Westmill Solar Co-operative to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Westmill Solar Co-operative from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Project The project was originally conceived by Adam Twine, the pioneer behind the neighbouring Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative, built in 2011 and registered for the UK feed-in tariffs. It has a capacity of 5 MWP. Westmill Solar Co-operative acquired the solar park in October 2012, under an option agreement with the original developers. It raised the necessary finance through public and private share offers and a senior debt bond with a pension fund.

Westmill Solar Park Westmill solar park is in the United Kingdom located on a site of 30 acres near to Watchfield, on the Wiltshire/Oxfordshire border, just off the A420. The site adjoins that of the Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative. The solar power plant has over 21,000 solar panels and has been operational since July 2011. When acquired by the Co-operative, it was the largest community-owned photovoltaic power station in the world.

Co-operative membership and equity

The Co-operative invited members through a public share offer, launched in June 2012. Despite the tight timetable caused by the expiry date on the option, the issue was 50% over-subscribed, when it closed at the end of July. This raised £4m from c. 1,650 members. An additional c. £2m was raised by a private placement of B-Shares, mainly from members who had subscribed to the original issue.

Other financing The Co-operative raised the balance of funding required in the form of a 23½-year senior debt bond. This was arranged with the Lancashire County Council Pension Fund, in what was believed to be the first major funding by a local authority in community-owned energy infrastructure.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Westmill Solar Co-operative

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Westmill Solar Co-operative claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Westmill Solar Co-operative before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Westmill Solar Co-operative ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Westmill Solar Co-operative

In research: Westmill Solar Co-operative appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Westmill Solar Co-operative in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Westmill Solar Co-operative is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Co-operatives in England, Community electricity generation in the United Kingdom, Photovoltaic power stations in the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Westmill Solar Co-operative outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Westmill Solar Co-operative in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Westmill Solar Co-operative means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Westmill Solar Co-operative out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Westmill Solar Co-operative in simple terms?

Westmill Solar Co-operative is the industrial and provident society that owns the Westmill Solar Park in Oxfordshire, England, believed to be the largest community-owned photovoltaic power station in the world. Project The project was originally conceived by Adam Twine, the pioneer behind the neigh…

Why does Westmill Solar Co-operative matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Westmill Solar Co-operative?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Westmill Solar Co-operative.