Northumbrian Water lifts off plan take annual solar power production to 12GWh

Northumbrian Water’s has commissioned an array of 3,600 solar panels at its Lumley Water Treatment Works in County Durham, the first of six sites earmarked for solar installations to be made this year.

The 1.9 million kWh a year that will be generated by the array at Lumley will add to a 220,000 kWh-a-year array built at Bran Sands on Teesside in 2016 and a 23,000 kWh-a-year array at Northumbrian’s Lowestoft Customer Centre installed in 2014.

Work to add solar arrays to sewage treatment works at Sedgeletch, Billingham, Newton Aycliffe and Blyth, is now underway, while Northumbrian is seeking planning permission for panels to be installed on land near the Broken Scar Water Treatment Works, in Darlington.

Northumbrian’s Essex & Suffolk Water subsidiary is investigating the potential for two arrays in its region.

With the addition of solar at the six new sites, Northumbrian Water anticipates generating 12 million kWh a year by the end of 2022.