Last week Associated British Ports announced that it had submitted a planning application for what would be the UK’s largest floating solar project, Barrow EnergyDock. The solar array is expected to generate 40MWp – that’s 40MW in peak conditions – with construction planned to start this summer.
Floating in Cavendish Dock at the Port of Barrow, the solar array would provide energy to BAE Systems, which has plans to expand its submarine manufacturing capabilities in the area. The solar panels would be fixed at an optimum angle, mounted on floating pontoons anchored to the bed of the dock.
The UK’s ports offer an excellent opportunity to expand our solar power generation capability, while enabling the growth of manufacturing and other industries nearby. Floating solar is being trialled at the Port of Leith in Scotland, where a demonstrator solar array installed in 2023 is powering Forth Port’s headquarters there. Meanwhile, the UK’s largest roof-mounted solar array, expected to generate 31MW, is currently being installed at Peel Port’s Port of Liverpool.
The UK’s largest floating solar farm is currently on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir near Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. Completed in 2016, the 6MWp array powers Thames Water’s nearby sewage treatment plant.
UK schemes are dwarfed by floating solar farms in other parts of the world. In November last year, the world’s largest offshore floating solar plant was completed in Changhai County on the west coast of Taiwan: a 440 MW solar array covering 347 hectares.
Solar energy in all forms is an important contributor to renewable energy in the UK, which must grow if we are to transition away from fossil fuels. The UK currently has a solar power capacity of around 17GW, a figure could quadruple by 2030 to 70GW, according to National Grid.
Solar power is an important element of Thermal Road Repairs’ technology and helps to keep the carbon footprint of our method 85% lower than traditional pothole repair techniques. Our heater units incorporate specially developed solar panels which help to top up the power of the heaters while they are outside and ensure that there is power for remote IoT (internet of things) monitoring of the heaters. And our vehicles also have solar panels on their roofs to help top up the heater charge whilst on the move.
For large scale solar power generation, floating solar arrays could be less controversial than land-based ones as they can offer further advantages such as preventing evaporation of water in hot periods and reducing algal blooms. However, their potential impact on aquatic and bird life also has to be considered when planning schemes.
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