Jaguar Land Rover flicks switch on UK's largest rooftop solar system

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has completed the UK's largest rooftop solar array at its £500m Engine Manufacturing Centre in the West Midlands.

The 5.8MW system consists of more than 21,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels and the company plans to extend this to 6.3MW by the end of the year.

It estimates the array will generate more than 30 per cent of the Engine Manufacturing Centre's energy requirements and reduce the plant's CO2 footprint by around 2,400 tonnes per year.

The site has achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent' rating through a range of efficiency measures, including heating and lighting systems designed to minimise energy demand, insulated cladding, maximising daylight through the roof design and harnessing natural ventilation via an automatic louver.

Energy monitoring facilities in the plant continually analyse the amount of energy being used and identify opportunities to reduce consumption of both electricity and natural gas, while JLR plans to create an ecological corridor across the bottom of its site for wildlife and install boxes, habitat piles, dead wood stumps and insect houses for small mammals, invertebrates, amphibians, bats and birds.

Trevor Leeks, the Engine Manufacturing Centre's operations director, said, "Our world-class facility showcases the latest sustainable technologies and innovations. The completion of the UK's largest rooftop solar panel installation here at the Engine Manufacturing Centre is just one example of this."