The UK’s largest solar thermal installation has received £1.3 million of investment, intended to make the Manufacturing Technology Centre less reliant on volatile energy markets, while reducing its carbon emissions by 37 tCO2e per year.
Almost 2000 solar thermal collectors will be installed on the roof of a building – generating up to 786kW of heat.
Heating accounts for around a third of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and much of industry’s energy demand is for heat rather than electricity. The UK has the highest industrial electricity prices in the G7, which is contributing to growing interest in on-site renewable heat across the sector.
Christophe Williams, co-founder and CEO of Naked Energy, the company delivering the project, said: “Industry and business have long presented the hardest sectors to decarbonise, particularly when it comes to heating and cooling. This project shows what can be achieved when renewable solar heat is designed as part of a modern system, resulting in increased efficiency and lower emissions.” The energy transition isn’t a distant ambition. It’s gaining real speed, and solar thermal is ready to play its role in it.”
The collectors will provide thermal energy to serve an absorption chiller, which will provide space cooling to the organisation’s state-of-the-art manufacturing research facility in summer months, while the collectors will generate space heating and hot water for general use all year round and are connected to an 8,000-litre water storage tank.
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