• Europe’s biggest floating solar panel array being installed on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir, London
• Eight football pitches worth of photovoltaic (PV) panels will generate enough energy to power 1,800 homes every year
• Thames Water supports Paris Agreement to limit the global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius, with target to self-generate 33% of its own power by 2020
Europe’s biggest ever floating solar panel array is being installed on London’s Queen Elizabeth II reservoir as part of Thames Water’s ambitious bid to self-generate a third of its own energy by 2020.
Just over 23,000 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels will be floated on the reservoir near Walton-on-Thames, utilising a normally redundant suburban space on the surface, following an agreement between Thames Water, Ennoviga Solar and Lightsource Renewable Energy.
The innovative floating pontoon will cover around a tenth of the reservoir – enough to fill eight Wembley football pitches.
The low carbon, renewable energy produced will be used to help power the nearby water treatment works putting downward pressure on customer bills. It will have a total installed peak capacity of 6.3 megawatts and is expected to generate 5.8 million kilowatt hours in its first year – equivalent to the annual consumption of around 1,800 homes.
