The UK’s Thames Water will be harvesting the energy of the sun with solar panel arrays at 103 of its locations.
The company says it is aiming to be Britain’s largest producer of on-site solar electricity after announcing it had inked a deal with Ennoviga Solar Ltd. Under the arrangement, Ennoviga Solar will own and maintain the solar panel systems and sell the electricity generated back to Thames Water.
“With the price of energy forecast to increase above inflation, the way we’ve structured this agreement will give us cheaper, renewable source of power from a secure source over the long term,” said Dr Piers Clark, Thames Water’s Commercial Director.
Three major systems are being installed that combined will generate more than 4,500 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity annually, enough to provide for the electricity requirements of around 970 average-size homes and saving the company £100,000 (AUD $160,000) each year.
The first system consisting of a 450kW array of solar panels was commissioned last week at Beckton. This will be followed by 150kW arrays installed at Crossness and Walton.
Subsequent smaller installations at another 100 sites will deliver a further 0.5% of Thames Water’s annual energy needs.
Thames Water states it has set a voluntary target of reducing its greenhouse emissions by 20 per cent in real-terms on 1990 levels by 2015; and has already reduced emissions by more than 11.4% so far.
The company supplies 2,600 million litres of tap water to 8.8 million customers across London and the Thames Valley and also removes and treats 2,800 million litres of sewage for an area covering 14 million customers.
Thames Water generates around 15% of the electricity it requires from sewage – approximately 187 Gigawatt hours annually; enough to run 40,000 average-sized homes. Sewage sludge is dried into blocks and then burned to generate heat and electricity.
