Scottish Water has completed work on a £420,000 solar project at a waste water treatment works serving thousands of customers in and around East Kilbride.

The project has seen 428 solar panels installed at the site in Allers and is expected to generate 0.22GWh of green energy a year, meeting almost a fifth of the site’s power needs.

It will also save around 43.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year, making the treatment of waste water at the site less carbon intensive and helping Scottish Water get closer towards meeting its goal of net zero emissions by 2040.

The project has been led by Scottish Water Horizons, the publicly owned utility’s commercial subsidiary, and delivered by R&A Group.

Scottish Water Horizons Project Manager Pat Stakim said:

“We’re delighted to add another solar scheme to the growing number of renewable projects located across Scottish Water sites – each of which help make the services we deliver for customers greener and better for the environment.

“We will be completing or starting a variety of renewables projects including solar and hydro across other Scottish Water sites in the coming weeks and months, as we continue to focus on achieving our ambitious net zero emissions target by 2040.”

Scottish Water Operations Team Leader Craig Causer commented:

“It is great to see this project completed and the green energy it generates will help us to power the works here in Allers which is operating round the clock treating waste water from customers across East Kilbride and the surrounding area.

“Almost a fifth of our power usage on site will now be met through solar power which is another step towards cutting our carbon emissions and helping us on our net zero journey.”