Chester Zoo now has 113kW of rooftop solar installed. Image: M3 Solutions.

Folkestone-based solar installer M3 Solutions has completed the second phase of a rooftop solar system for Chester Zoo.

Having originally installed a 70kW system in 2015, M3 returned to the site to add a further 43kW as part of the zoo’s ‘Three Smart P Plan’; an environmental campaign focusing on its products, people and places.

With the completion of phase two, the programme has resulted in a total of 430 panels being installed across the zoo’s Cedar House, Animal Health Centre and Zoo Entrance Shop buildings which help to save 899 tonnes of CO2 over the panels’ 25-year life span.

The zoo’s head of site pperations Gareth Simpson said that the installations formed part of a wider energy management plan that is now in place.

“We’re always looking at ways we can act more sustainably to minimise our impact on the environment, in everything we do,” he said.

“M3 were delighted to install the further solar requirement at Chester Zoo, and of course meet their very high standards of sustainability and efficiency. M3 trust that through the installation of solar on their estate, these cost savings will help contribute towards their devotion to conservation,” Adrian Williams, managing director at M3 Solutions, added.