Back in 2008, the Stobart Group took over London Southend Airport since which time it has invested many millions of pounds. In 2014, the airport had 496 solar panels installed to help supply electricity for the cafes and shops in the terminal building.
Well, not wishing to stop their, in excess of 9,500 solar panels have been installed on a solar farm just to the north of the airport. It is estimated that the 2.5 megawatts of capacity will provide the airport with around twenty per cent of its electricity requirements and will no doubt play a significant part in reducing the carbon emissions emanating from the airport.
The solar farm has cost about £2 million but will hopefully be money well spent and that the expenditure is recouped over a number of years as less reliance will no doubt be placed on buying electricity from its normal source – the national grid. This solar panel farm is presently the biggest one of its kind located at an airport in the UK.
It was only back in October that we wrote about solar panels being installed at Cochin International Airport in India where in excess of 46,000 solar photovoltaic panels were installed. In their case, it is hoped that these solar panels will produce more electricity than it needs.
It will be interesting to see if more airports invest in solar farms not only in the UK but elsewhere in the world. In order for the UK and other countries to meet their targets in respect of lowering carbon emissions and making greater use of renewable energy, any further similar developments must surely have a positive and welcome impact on this so let us hope that more solar panel schemes are introduced over the next few years. As always, we will endeavor to inform our readers as and when we hear about any other interesting solar panel projects both here in the UK and abroad.
