Solar PV promises sunny future for Met Office HQ
A 250 kW solar-PV array at the headquarters of the Met Office in Exeter includes 1000 panels and will generate enough electricity to meet the demand from one of its powerful new super-computers. The array will stretch across the roof of the 150 m-long energy centre and is being installed by SunGift Solar. Work is due to be complete in June 2012.
The array will generate 221 MWh of electricity a year, saving about 116 t of CO2. It will be linked to the energy-management system, enabling up-to-the-minute monitoring of its performance.
The installation includes 16 inverters.
Gareth Walton, business-development manger of SunGift, said, ‘Despite being up against a number of much larger companies, we demonstrated an exceptional technical knowledge and understanding to design the best system to meet the Met Office’s requirements. We also have a high degree of experience in renewables and a tremendous passion to provide the highest levels of customer service.’
Peter Clayton-White, building-services engineer at the Met Office, said, ‘On a sunny day, this array will generate enough energy to run one of three super-computers on sunshine, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of our energy supply. We hope to have a display in our reception so everyone can see how much energy the array is generating at any one time and how much is going to the super-computer.’
