Anglian Water has stepped up its use of renewable energy with 5 new solar farms on its sites.

The solar farms will produce 1.8 million kilowatt hours of energy every year – enough to power 500 homes.

All the new solar farms are close to treatment centres which have a high energy use. The move is part of an ongoing drive to be more energy efficient and produce more energy from renewable sources.

Matt Pluke, Energy Manager at Anglian Water, said:

“This is very exciting news for us. This is yet another way we can reduce our energy costs and reduce our impact on the climate.

“Across some of our Water Recycling Centres we’ve already installed a fleet of combined heat and power engines , which create energy from the gas released as a by-product of the water recycling process.”

“The next step was to identify a number of energy-intensive sites where we can create clean energy from solar panels. By using this space, which would otherwise stand empty, we will be getting the best value out of the land we own, whilst reducing our carbon footprint.”

In the last five years Anglian Water has delivered around 1,000 energy projects, bringing savings of well over £16 million, and helping to exceed its goal of reducing its carbon footprint.

In November last year Chief Executive Peter Simpson attended a gathering at the Paris climate summit of business leaders calling for climate action. The event was organised by the Prince of Wales’ Corporate Leaders Group and lead to the Paris Pledge for Action which was signed by 400 businesses calling for quick and effective implementation of the Paris climate deal.

Matt Pluke added:

“We’re one of the biggest energy users here in the East of England – we need huge amounts of power to treat and recycle water, and pump it around such a geographically flat area - so we have an obligation to reduce our impact on the climate wherever we can.”

Anglian Water is using the following areas of land to house the solar panels to generate electricity used by the five separate sites to recycle used water:

• Witham Water Recycling Centre near Chelmsford   - 1.5 acre area to create nearly ¼million Kilowatt hours of energy – which equates to around 20% of the electricity used by the site
• Whilton Water Recycling Centre near Daventry - 2.5 acre are to create more than 1/3 million Kilowatt hours of energy – around 50% of the electricity used by the site
• Bedford Water Recycling Centre -  4.6 acre area to create more than ¾million Kilowatt hours of energy –around 10% of the electricity used by the site
• Hall Water Treatment Works near Lincoln -  1,800 m² area on the roof of the building to create nearly ¼million Kilowatt hours of energy –around 10% of the electricity used by the site
• Rayleigh West Water Recycling Centre near Basildon -  1.5 acre area to create more than ¼million Kilowatt hours of energy –around 25% of the electricity used by the site