The 157kW solar array at Manchester Metropolitan University is part of the Triangulum smart cities project. Image: Forrest.
Electrical contractor Forrest has completed a 157kW solar array at Manchester Metropolitan University in the first phase of a five-year partnership set to transform the city with smart technologies.
Triangulum is a five year €25 million (£21.9 million) Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Union to demonstrate smart city tech in various locations around the world.
Designated urban districts in three ‘lighthouse cities’ – Manchester, Eindhoven in the Netherlands, and the Norwegian city of Stavanger – will be transformed into smart quarters in. The concepts learned from these projects will then be transferred to the ‘follower cities’ of Leipzig in Germany, Prague in the Czech Republic, the Spanish city of Sabadell and Tianjin in China.
Mark Duncan, resources and programmes lead at Manchester City Council, stated: ”Triangulum is part of a portfolio of Smart City projects delivered by Manchester City Council. The innovative energy and carbon saving measures developed here have the potential to be scaled up across the City, leading to further cost and energy savings”.
Led by Manchester City Council, the solar PV system will assist in transforming the ‘Manchester Corridor’, which contains around 72,000 students, into a smart city district.
The install at the university's Birley campus is intended to demonstrate how ‘smart green growth’ can reduce carbon emissions whilst boosting the economy.
Darroch Baker, divisional director at Forrest, said “As a market leading innovator in the energy sector, Forrest is delighted to be partnering with Manchester City Council and Manchester Metropolitan University, as part of this international project.
“By being selected as a key Triangulum delivery partner, we are ideally positioned to drive energy efficiency in Manchester and across the UK”.