Dunfermline Waste Water Treatment Works has turned to green energy to boost Scottish Water’s pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2040.
It is the latest Scottish Water site to have solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels installed. Scottish Water Horizons, our commercial subsidiary, invested £300,000 installing 784 PV panels at the work which serves around 81,000 customers in Dunfermline, Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay, Crossgates, Rosyth and Kingseat.
The carbon-reducing technology – which works by converting light into electricity using semi conducting materials – will offset almost ten per cent of the electricity required to operate the facility.
The new 231 kW solar PV system will generate 0.2GWHr of energy on an annual basis – equivalent to powering 55 homes for a year.
Renewable energy experts FES Support Services delivered the project on behalf of Scottish Water Horizons. The panels are now in place and operating on an area of previously unused waste ground at the site which is in St Margaret’s Bay, which is just below the Queensferry Crossing on the north shore. The work was completed before the middle of March before lockdown conditions over the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Eddie Johnstone, Senior Project Manager at Scottish Water Horizons, said: “This is the latest solar power scheme which we have delivered to encourage growth and invest in renewable technologies.
“These carbon-reducing solar schemes demonstrate Scottish Water’s drive to tackle climate change and become a zero carbon user of electricity.
“The energy needed to provide customers with essential water and waste water services makes Scottish Water the largest single user of electricity in the country and we are fully committed to finding alternative ways to develop and accelerate green energy schemes to reduce our carbon footprint.
Lewis Deas, Scottish Water’s Waste Water Operations Manager, added: “Customers in the Dunfermline area should be pleased to hear this waste water site is operating in a way which now has a lower impact on the environment than ever before and using technology which will help drive down operating costs at the works too.”
To date 8.2MW of photovoltaic (PV) power has now been installed at over 43 SW sites generating 6.5 GWh of renewable energy annually.
Last year Scottish Water achieved a major energy milestone when it was announced the amount of renewable energy the company generates and facilitates is now more than double its electricity consumption.
Currently 73 of Scottish Water’s water and waste water treatment are now either self-sufficient or partly sufficient in their power requirements.
These projects contribute to the Scottish Government’s ambitious new targets for Scottish Water which sets out that the utility will generate or host three times the energy it uses by 2030.
