Glassford reservoir goes green

24 June 2020

Green energy is helping to power a Scottish Water facility in Glassford, South Lanarkshire.

A £185,000 investment made by Scottish Water Horizons has seen 532 ground-mounted solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels installed at the utility’s service reservoir in Glassford. Once treated, water from the facility is delivered to around 9,300 homes in the Chapelton and Auldhouse areas as well as parts of Hamilton and East Kilbride.   

This carbon reducing technology will offset 20 per cent of the electricity required to operate the facility, with the new solar PV system generating 0.174GWh of energy on an annual basis – that’s the same amount of energy needed to power around 50 homes for a year.

PV panels at Glassford service reservoir

Ian Piggott, Project Manager at Scottish Water Horizons, led the project delivery. He said: “PV power is instrumental in helping tackle climate change and reducing our carbon footprint. Despite the challenging climate we currently find ourselves in we’re delighted that this project, which was delivered by renewable energy solutions specialists Absolute Solar and Wind on behalf of Scottish Water Horizons, has been completed.

“A host of COVID-19 compliant measures were implemented to make that possible. Project workers followed social distancing rules throughout, their use of welfare facilities was staggered, and a rigorous on-site cleaning regime helped make working conditions safer.”

“PV power is instrumental in helping tackle climate change and reducing our carbon footprint.”

Ian Piggott
Project Manager, Scottish Water Horizons

Glassford joins a long list of PV schemes already installed at many treatment works and other Scottish Water assets across Scotland. To date, 8.3 megawatts of PV power has been installed at over 45 sites, generating 6.6 gigawatt hours of renewable energy every year – that’s equivalent to powering 2,200 homes.

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 more than 70 of Scottish Water’s water and waste water treatment works are now either self-sufficient or partly sufficient in their power requirements.

Share this page: