The pontoon will cover around a tenth of the whole reservoir – enough to cover the entire pitch at Wembley Stadium EIGHT times. Councillor Andrew Kelly said it was a "great idea": “Renewable energy is always welcome, but in this case, especially so,” he said.
“It’s an innovative use of a reservoir and a great model for others to follow. And because of where it is, it’s hidden and causes no visual damage to the area.”
The low carbon, renewable energy produced will be used to help power a nearby water treatment works which, it is planned, will put "downward pressure" on customer bills. It will have a total installed peak capacity of 6.3 megawatts and is expected to generate 5.8m kilowatt hours in its first year – equivalent to the annual consumption of around 1,800 homes. It is hoped installation will be finished by the end of March and the solar panels will be operational soon afterwards.
The Queen Elizabeth II reservoir was commissioned in 1962 and has a capacity of 19.6 megalitres of water with a surface area of 128.3 hectares and a perimeter of 4.3km. Lightsource, a leading European solar energy company, is managing the installation and will oversee the deployment of more than 61,000 floats and 177 anchors, which will provide the floating platform for the solar array.
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