Wednesday 19 December 2018

University of Cambridge’s solar project reaches graduation

The University of Cambridge has installed 384kW of solar power on the roof of nine of its accommodation blocks.

A total of 1,175 panels were installed by Photon Energy as part of the North West Cambridge development, which aims to provide up to 3,000 new homes and community facilities to help overcome problems with overcrowding and rising land prices.

The solar panels are expected to generate approximately 262,355kWh of electricity each year for local residents and save 136 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Funded by the University of Cambridge, the project is being built in a number of phases - the first has involved key worker units, local shops and a café, positioned around a market square.

The buildings also contain brown roofs covered in soil insulation and a district heating system.

Lefteris Giraleas, Senior Engineer at Photon Energy, said: "This was a challenging project, requiring coordination with the many other trades working on site at the same time.

"We worked well with the team at Wates, ensuring the installation went as smoothly as possible and was completed on time.”