We have previously written about solar panels being installed to float on the surface of water. Well, you may be interested to read that work is to start shortly on a huge solar farm project in the UK on a reservoir. The scheme is expected to cost in the region of £3.5 million and could commence before Christmas.
The location is Godley Reservoir in Hyde that is in Greater Manchester. In the region of 12,000 solar photovoltaic panels are to be mounted on the surface of the reservoir so it is a big project. These solar panels will cover a huge area- over 45,000 square metres. This will make the installation the largest water based one of its kind in Europe and it will be the second biggest in the world. The largest one is in Japan.
It is being forecast that the electricity generated by these solar panels will be sufficient to meet around a third of the water treatment works electricity requirements thus no doubt saving the utility company a significant amount of money. It is not the first time that solar panels have been floated on the surface of water here in the UK but it is great to see that this latest project will be the biggest in Europe.
We have so many reservoirs in the UK that there must surely be scope to make greater use of some of them to install solar panels on them. Of course, there are many reservoirs that are used for water-based activities such as sailing and fishing but there must be some that are only used to help provide a water supply to homes and businesses in the UK. Some of these reservoirs are no doubt in remote locations so, for the majority of the population in this country, they are rarely seen so surely they would not be an eye sore.
