Nottingham City Council have announced a huge investment into Solar PV as part of their commitment to lower the city’s carbon footprint. Most cities are taking steps like implementing park and ride systems to lower congestion and emissions and are now following London in the use of hybrid buses to dramatically lower fossil fuel consumption.

Nottingham council have taken it a step further and implemented Solar PV projects for 2 major park and ride hubs which service the City.  The 2 park and ride facilities, located at Queen’s Drive and Colnwick Racecourse will be aiming for completion by April 2015.

Between the 2 sites there will be a total of 7000 solar PV Modules making it to date the largest planned solar canopy in the UK.  This canopy will be bringing power to nearly 500 homes across the city. In addition to this the 2 park and ride sites will also help power the city’s hybrid bus fleet. 50% of the fleet’s fuel requirements will be met through charge points located at the sites.

Finally thanks to government green initiatives, namely the Feed In Tariff scheme, Nottingham City Council will also receive the additional financial bonus of generation payments. Through their generation payments the council can expect to see £216,000 annually.

City Councillor Allan Clarke, portfolio holder for energy and sustainability said that “Harvesting power from our urban energy farms means that we can gather a large amount of sustainable energy for the city. …It will provide locally sourced energy for local people.  The energy at Queen’s Drive will provide 50% of the power needed for the new electric bus fleet and the urban energy farms will also provide a much needed jobs boost for the city.  It is all about making sure Nottingham has secure energy supplies in the future, providing excellently priced energy and looking after the city’s wider environment.”

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