World’s biggest floating solar-farm launches in London

The primary purpose of the farm is to generate power for the numerous local water treatment plants and, better still, the ambitious Walton-on-Thames project won’t fall foul of the NIMBYs. Very few people besides Heathrow passengers and some residents of a local estate are likely to ever see the mass of solar panels as the man-made lake is almost invisible.

Similarly, considering that the project will only employ a maximum of 6% of the reservoir’s surface, it is not expected to have any impact on the local ecosystem or the water birds that live on its margins.

Angus Berry, energy manager for the project’s owners Thames Water, said:

“This will be the biggest floating solar farm in the world for a time – others are under construction but we are leading the way, though we do hope that others will follow both in the UK and abroad.”

It is hoped that the £6m project will generate enough electricity to power the utility’s local water treatment plants for decades and help provide clean drinking water to almost 10 million people in greater London and the south east, which in turn will alleviate a huge and often unrecognised drain on the UK’s electricity supply.

The promise of this success is being looked on keenly by the north west, for the reason that a similar floating solar farm – albeit with around half the capacity of the Thames Water project – is being built by United Utilities on a reservoir near Manchester.

Do you think this is a significant step forward for renewable energy in the UK? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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