It’s important to us that we care for our planet as well as our patients – which is why we’re proud to say we’ll soon have what we believe to be the largest array of solar panels in the NHS.
Over the coming months, we’re installing further panels across our sites in Hull, Grimsby, Cottingham, Scunthorpe, and Goole, taking the total to over 24,000.
Together they will generate around 12mwp a year – enough to power up to 12,000 homes – helping to power our hospitals and reduce our energy bills by around £1.8 million a year across NHS Humber Health Partnership.
Group Deputy Director of Capital Services and Sustainability, Alex Best, said: “We have received significant funding over the last year, totalling £16 million, which is supporting our Net Zero ambitions. Our aim has always been to generate enough electricity to make our sites self-sufficient.
“Once the new panels are in place, they will enable us to run Castle Hill, Hull Royal Infirmary and Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital solely on solar power during daylight hours from May to September. We are also actively funding battery schemes to capture any surplus energy we generate.
“It’s incredible to think that the majority of the power we need to provide life-saving care to communities on both sides of the Humber will be self-generated, green electricity.”
As part of this work, planning permission has just been granted to install 418 panels on the roof of the Women’s and Children’s building at Hull Royal, as well as adding further panels to the new plant room on the site, increasing our array of sizes even further.
But the panels are not only being installed on roofs. We’re also installing car ports in many of our staff and public car parks, which will have solar panels mounted on top.
And, as an added bonus, they will also help to shield vehicles parked there from the elements, keeping them cooler in the summer and protected from the rain on less pleasant days.
We’ve already finished installing the ports in one of our main staff car parks at Scunthorpe and are now doing the same in the Argyle Street car park at Hull Royal and in one of staff car parks at Grimsby.
Next on the list will be back at Scunthorpe, where the ports will be put into the public car park in front of the Queen’s Building and, in a later phase of the works, the main car park on the Cliff Gardens side of the site.
Alex added: “We anticipate that all the works will be completed by autumn this year. We also apologise for the ongoing disruption on our sites and car parks during the construction phase but believe the end result will be worth it.”
