Glasgow City Council published its Climate Plan which set the target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030. One of the initiatives the council developed to achieve this was an extensive rooftop solar project which, at the time, was one of the largest delivered in Scotland.
The project uses the rooftop space across eight separate buildings and demonstrates how solar can be a viable decarbonisation solution, even in busy, urban areas. The solar installations will be operational for 25 years, providing significant financial savings and achieving rapid payback, alongside generating strong environmental benefits.
Designing Bespoke Solutions for Each Project
Each of the eight buildings had varying characteristics, and energy profiles. Not only did our designers assess which areas of the roof were most suitable for solar, they had to create a detailed business case which was able to maximise both the environmental and financial benefits.
The goal for our designers was to create a solution that generated the maximum amount of electricity to be consumed on site, without oversizing and exporting, with the ultimate goal of making each building as self-sufficient as possible to reduce reliance on the grid.
This was done through a detailed analysis of each building’s energy profile. Schools, for example, have smaller energy needs in the evenings, so warrant smaller arrays, whereas buildings with heat pumps, EV chargers, and evening use, will support much higher demands.
We also had to assess each building’s energy infrastructure to determine how much load it could accommodate. Exceeding this amount would call for expensive upgrades, and we were able to create optimised solutions within the constraints of their existing infrastructure.
We worked with the council to identify the best locations for the new solar installations. This involved a series of extensive surveys to assess sites across their estate and, based on the findings, eight buildings were chosen for solar installations. These included two daycare centres, five schools, and the Category B listed Kelvin Hall culture and fitness centre, making up Phase 1 of the project.
Funding for the project came from a mix of a Salix loan, which was match funded from the council’s capital budget. Due to the efficiency of the system, the £1m project will generate £182,000 in savings per year and have a payback period of just six years.
Overall, the project will see us install over 1,700 solar panels across eight council-owned properties:
