Anglian Water’s solar energy project goes live

Working with renewable energy company HBS, the solar installation is made up of 3312 solar panels. The scheme will generate 36% of the site's energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions by over 300 tpy in the first year. At its peak, the site is capable of generating nearly 900 kWp.

David Riley, Head of Carbon Neutrality at Anglian Water commented, "We supply over seven million customers across the East of England with water and water recycling services and the population continues to grow rapidly - in fact this region is one of the fastest growing in the UK and one that is at risk from climate change. Our challenge is to address this increasing demand for services sustainably, and it's that challenge which underpins our ambitious renewable energy strategy.

"As a large low-lying region, it takes a huge amount of energy to pump and recycle water to put back into the environment. As one of the largest energy consumer and emitters in the region, we have an important responsibility to reduce our operational carbon emissions. We can achieve this by generating our own renewable energy and we aim to generate 44% of the electricity we need from renewable sources by 2025."

Earlier this year the water industry came together to sign a Public Interest Commitment (PIC). The PIC is the industry's pledge to continue to deliver wider benefits to society above and beyond the provision of clean, fresh drinking water and treatment of used water. One of the commitments made by the industry was to be net zero carbon by 2030, 20 years ahead of the Government's current target of 2050.

Anglian has already made strides towards becoming a net zero carbon business by 2030. Since 2010 the company has made a 58% reduction in capital carbon and a 29% reduction in operational carbon.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/solar/16122019/anglian-waters-solar-energy-project-goes-live/