Thames Water is aiming to become Britain`s biggest on-site solar power producer and industrial user after signing a ground-breaking deal to install photovoltaic systems large enough to cover 15 football pitches at three key sites in London.

Under a £7m, 25-year contract, Ennoviga Solar Ltd, a specialist photovoltaic developer, has created an investment company that will own and maintain the solar arrays, repaying the investment by selling all the clean electricity produced to the water company at a market-competitive price.

When fully completed, the three sites will provide an annual output of more than 4,500 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity – enough to run around 970 average-size homes.

The solar arrays are being fitted in otherwise unusable places at three operational sites in the capital: on the roof of the Beckton desalination plant in Newham, on the top of vast storm tanks built in the 1800s at Crossness sewage works in Bexley, and on redundant sand filters at Walton water treatment works in Sunbury.

Thames Water has set a voluntary target of reducing its greenhouse emissions by 20 per cent in real-terms on 1990 levels by 2015.

Dr Piers Clark, commercial director at Thames Water, said:

“With the price of energy forecast to increase above inflation, the way we’ve structured this agreement will give us cheaper, renewable source of power from a secure source over the long term,”

“We think this is the right thing to for our 14m customers and to help move Britain that little bit closer to becoming a low-carbon economy.”

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