In late September Scottish Water announced the completion of the utility’s largest solar panel scheme to date in Speyside (“Scotch whisky country” as it is often dubbed, including as it does a location with the highest density of distilleries anywhere).
Scottish Water Horizons, a wholly owned subsidiary of Scottish Water, is said to be driving forward the organisation’s green agenda having recently installed a total of 4800 photovoltaic (PV) panels at two adjacent borehole sites in Speyside.
The £1.2 million installation, which was carried out by contractor Absolute Solar and Wind, will see both sites generating a total of 1GWh of energy per annum, whilst saving 437 CO2eq tonnes of carbon every year.
The installation will also offset over one fifth of the borehole sites’ electrical needs annually.
The PV panels, which were installed on Scottish Water land, will help provide power to pump water to the Badentinan water treatment works nearby.
In addition to helping Scottish Water meet renewable energy targets and protect the environment, savings from the new installation will be passed on to customers to help keep bills down going forward.
Ian Piggott, Scottish Water Horizons Project Delivery Manager, said:
“This £1.2 million project has taken around three months to complete on site from start to finish. Our construction phase started in early June this year, with some works starting a month later due to the presence of badgers in the vicinity of site. However, we managed our programme such that there was no negative impact on our overall delivery timescales.
“Absolute Solar and Wind, installed 2900 panels at the north borehole site, and 1900 at the south borehole. These are now in operation and will generate renewable energy long into the future.”
Graham Provest, Managing Director of Absolute Solar and Wind, said:
“As a leading energy efficiency business Absolute is proud to work so closely the Scottish Water team on another successful project as part of their on-going framework requirements. This particular installation had some challenges with grid connectivity that were overcome by our highly skilled technical team. We look forward to future projects and to contributing to a low carbon Scotland. ”
John Sammon, Project Manager with Scottish Water Horizons, said:
“The PV panel scheme in Speyside is the largest we’ve undertaken to date, but it’s just one of many across Scotland that are already generating clean, renewable energy to help power our assets and keep customer bills down.
“As well as using solar energy, Scottish Water Horizons are also harnessing renewable energy from Scottish Water assets using different methods, including food waste recycling and recovering heat from waste water. Going forward we’re committed to capturing the commercial opportunities that Scottish Water assets provide to help Scotland’s economy and environment thrive and improve.”
