Shropshire hospital adds 1,750 solar panels to its roof

It was great to see news recently that a Shropshire hospital, in addition to all it already does to help people, is choosing to add further benefit to their community by sourcing their ongoing power requirements from solar energy.

The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital is the hospital in question, and is planning to transform their energy usage through a series of projects, the first of which will be achieved through the installation of 1,760 solar panels across the hospital site.

On a summer’s day, the installation will be capable of generating in the region of 2,300kWh of electricity, with more than 99.9% of this energy going directly toward the hospital’s own electricity system, which in addition to reducing the hospital’s carbon footprint, will also reduce day-to-day running costs.

This level of generation is roughly equivalent to supplying 280 family homes with 100% of their electricity for an average day’s consumption. The hospital will send the remaining fraction of the electricity generated back to the grid, with the decision made that the most productive and efficient way to use the solar energy generated is directly on the hospital site.

It is great to see more of these projects happening, with key factors being improvements in solar panel performance and a reduction in what solar panels cost. Mike Bowen, who has managed the project, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work on this extremely worthwhile project for the trust. From our perspective at the hospital, we can already see that the solar panels will be a big asset in not only reducing our electricity costs but also cutting our carbon emissions, which reduces our impact on the environment.”

Whilst this is the largest single CO2 reduction project carried out by RJAH to date, a number of other projects are currently being completed which will contribute to the efficiency and lower running costs of the trust, including the installation of LED lighting to replace old and inefficient light fittings and renewing the trust’s boilers, with a more efficient system.