The Field of Dreams solar PV project. Image: Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
With clocks having moved forward, a solar PV farm in Cottingham, Yorkshire is now completely powering the Castle Hill Hospital.
This is a result of the longer days enabled by the change to British Summer Time (BST), with the 11,000 panels now generating around 26MWh per day so far this month. It is anticipated this could rise to a peak summer load of 50MWh per day.
The solar project, known as the Field of Dreams, was constructed between September 2021 and February 2022 on land adjacent to the hospital site in Cottingham for a cost of £4.2 million.
It forms part of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust's aims of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, and is also saving the Trust approximately £250,000 to £300,000 every month on energy bills.
The project was enabled by a grant from the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy as part of its Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Marc Beaumont, head of sustainability for the Trust said: “Now if you stop to consider what the solar panel project is actually contributing, it’s incredible to think that the power used to deliver patients’ radiotherapy treatment sessions, to support many life-saving surgical procedures and to keep our intensive care unit running right now is all completely self-generated, green electricity.”
The news that the solar farm is completely powering the Castle Hill Hospital follows an announcement in March that the 4MW Brynwhillach Solar Farm in Swansea has powered the Morriston Hospital for 50 hours since it started generating in November 2021.
Other solar developments for hospitals include a solar farm which entered construction in February that is set to feed power directly to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, as well as rooftop solar installed by Centrica Business Solutions for Hereford County Hospital.