Northumberland County Council has a new solar car port array, and it is one of the biggest of its kind in the UK.

The project, which includes a covered parking area with a canopy made from photovoltaic (PV) panels, has been designed and built by UK Power Networks Services and will help provide energy to the council’s headquarters at County Hall in Morpeth.

It is anticipated the new solar energy infrastructure will save between £100,000 and £150,000 on energy costs each year, as well as saving an estimated over 250 tonnes of carbon emissions will be saved each year.

The new solar energy infrastructure is one of the largest car port array installations in the UK and features 800kW solar panels, while also providing weather protection for electric vehicles. Additionally, there is a 400kW battery energy storage system with smart controls to optimise energy use, carbon emissions and costs throughout the day.

Energy from the solar panels will be used to power the main building, provide electricity to EV charge points for fleet and staff vehicles and also stored to help optimise costs and carbon efficiency.

As well as this, 120 EV charge points have been installed in the staff car park, including 100 fast chargers and 20 rapid chargers including some dedicated for accessible parking bays. This will make it easier for staff with EVs to charge their cars with no reduction in the number of staff parking spaces for combustion engine vehicles. Additional rapid charge and overnight charging options are also now in place for the Council’s fleet vehicles.

The council plans to use this model to test the suitability of installing similar solutions in other public car parks in the county to reduce costs, meet carbon targets and also improve the resilience of energy supplies.

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