27.01.2012
Royal Surrey County Hospital (NHS Trust) installs ‘micro-site’ solar PV system to reduce C02
27 January 2012
The Royal Surrey County Hospital (NHS Trust) is expected to save an estimated 43.26 tonnes of C02 over the next 25 years, thanks to the 17-module, 3.95‑kWp solar PV system from AZUR SOLAR, installed just prior to Christmas. All the electricity produced by this self-funded system will also be used on-site, further protecting the hospital against ever increasing energy costs.
“This was a challenging project, not least because we only a three week window available, from conception to completion, for this quality installation to ensure it qualified for the Government’s highest feed‑in tariff,” explained Gary Mountjoy, Chartered Manager at the hospital. “A number of suppliers were asked to quote but AZUR SOLAR was the only one that could deliver our exacting requirements in terms of timescale and performance. We’re monitoring the system closely, and while it’s still early days, we’re delighted with the installation. It’s performing really well and a detailed analysis will be presented at future board meetings to help inform and enable us look at how we could move forward to initiate additional energy savings from solar PV.”
In addition to the tight delivery schedule, a ballasted mounting system was another key requirement of the project, as potential flexibility to move the installation to cope with the expected future expansion needs of this modern hospital also had to be factored in. The location of the plant room on the roof of the east wing on the main block also meant that a special monitoring solution had to be sourced to allow data to be stored on an SD-card and then transferred for analysis.
AZUR SOLAR was tasks by The Royal Surrey County Hospital, via an Independent energy consultant Ross Bullock of Absolute Technologies, and worked closely with other parties including the hospitals in-house architect and on-site facilities and services management team. The initial presentation for this project was on 14 November so during the subsequent three week window everything including surveys, planning, system design, load bearing analysis, sourcing of the kit and panels, installation and commissioning all had to be completed.
Many solar PV customers are increasingly opting for AZUR SOLAR’s unique 2P coated modules as they make a real contribution to overall energy production and therefore improving returns on investment. Thanks to AZUR SOLAR’s coating technology competence, virtually free of degradation, these technically advanced modules produce up to 15% more lifetime power plus are guaranteed to perform at above 98% efficiency even after 25 years. Even taking the Governments revised Feed-in Tariff into account, new installations should still means achieve an 8 -10% return on investment – still a better return on investment if funds were to be left on deposit to earn interest at the current rates.
For further information on AZUR SOLAR please go to www.azur-solar.co.uk, call 01753 257410 or email info@azur-solar.co.uk.
* (Figure is net of production and installation of the Solar PV system and based on the carbon trust savings figures of 0.544 kg/kWh)