Greater green goals for South Lanarkshire facility

A Scottish Water facility in South Lanarkshire has doubled its green energy production with an extension of its original carbon reducing scheme.

The addition of 182 solar photo voltaic (PV) panels at Camps Water Treatment Works means green energy production at the site has increased two-fold to 200kW.

Scottish Water Horizons invested £94,000 to bring the total number of panels hosted by the site to 468.  

With this latest enhancement, the carbon reducing scheme will now offset 12 per cent of the electricity required to operate the water treatment works.

The total PV array will generate 0.16GWHr of energy on an annual basis. That’s the same amount of energy needed to boil around 711,000 kettles, or for a standard electric car to travel 640,000 miles which is enough to travel to the moon and back, and then six times round the Earth!

It will save almost 27 CO₂ equivalent tonnes of carbon per annum.

Alan Mearns, Project Manager at Scottish Water Horizons, led the delivery of the scheme. He said: “Photovoltaic panels were first introduced to Camps back in March 2016. With space available at the site, it made complete sense for us to build on the success of the original scheme helping to double its green energy production.”

Scottish Water has committed to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 with an interim target to host or self-generate three times its annual electricity consumption by 2030. 

Currently around 80 of Scottish Water’s water and waste water treatment works are now either self-sufficient or partly sufficient in their power requirements.

Water operations team leader, Ricky Henderson, added: “PV power is key in reducing our carbon footprint and in helping to tackle climate change. This is great news for the environment and also for our customers and local communities who are receiving a greener and more sustainable water supply.”

This recent project was delivered by renewable energy solutions specialists R & A Group Ltd on behalf of Scottish Water Horizons.