South Ayrshire Council has approved the installation of a solar facility that includes both ground-mounted and rooftop installations at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) site in Prestwick, Scotland.
Initial plans for a rooftop solar installation were approved in 2023, but NATS withdrew and resubmitted them to develop the ground-mounted element.
Up to 2,200 panels will be installed across the site, predominantly on the rooftop of the air traffic control centre. The installation will have a peak capacity of up to 1,132KWp with the rooftop arrays accounting for 701KWp and the ground-mounted system 431KWp.
Once fully operational, NATS says the installation could provide up to 21% of the Prestwick Centre’s electricity needs—no mean feat considering it is operational 24/7. The council found that the installation would not “detract from the overall character and amenity” of the area.
The Prestwick Centre is located within an industrial area near Glasgow Airport. The air traffic services provider also operates from a site in Swanwick in Hampshire. In July this year, NATS announced that it had successfully installed rooftop solar PV at its Swanwick centre as part of its plans to become a net zero emissions company by 2035 and carbon negative by 2040.
In its design and access statement, submitted as part of the planning application, NATS said the solar development would be a “significant investment” by the company. NATS has also stated an intention to begin installing smaller-scale solar schemes at remote sites from next year.
UK airports themselves have often explored the use of rooftop solar PV, alongside ground-mounted solar PV, on their chosen route to net zero emissions and to match their electricity demand cost-effectively.
Farnborough Airport in Hampshire recently completed a £2 million rooftop solar PV project with an installed capacity of 1,700kWp. Solivus started construction on the rooftop solar PV system in January 2024 and has since installed 4,000 lightweight solar modules on hangars one and two, the terminal, the control tower, and the airport’s Aviator Hampshire hotel.
Solar Power Portal has previously reported that solar was providing London Southend Airport with 25% of its annual energy consumption to reduce its carbon footprint.
In May 2023, Bristol Airport revealed that it had started work on a 2.8-acre solar PV plant, which would help generate at least 16% of the airport’s direct energy needs over the year.
In September 2023, energy supplier SSE Energy Solutions confirmed it would explore the development of a “major solar power project” at Teesside Airport, with a potential capacity of around 50MW. This will aid in achieving the airport’s net zero by 2030 ambition.
