Infrastructure and support services firm Stobart Group has completed the construction of a 2.5MW solar farm at London Southend Airport in Essex in the UK. Stobart Aviation, which owns Southend Airport, claims that the £2m (US$2.9m) Solar Photovoltaic Array is the largest development of its kind at any UK airport.
Construction of the solar farm began in November 2015 with engineers mounting 9,500 individual solar panels on 2m (6.5ft) steel frames. Located on 3.2 hectares of unused grassland at the north of the airport, the solar farm is capable of replacing up to 20% of the airport’s annual electricity usage. The layout of the panels has been specially designed to prevent reflective glare affecting approaching aircraft and the air traffic control tower.
Glyn Jones, CEO of Stobart Aviation, said, “Our new solar farm is actually the largest at a UK airport and supports one of our key objectives, which is reducing our carbon footprint and the electricity we require from the national grid network. We are delighted as London’s newest airport to have opportunities to introduce the latest ‘green’ initiatives as part of our development.”