The Sheffield Fire and Rescue Command Centre on Eyre St in the centre of Sheffield has had a 10kWp system installed by Solar Roof Solutions. As a heavy consumer of electricity, the 10kWp installation will help the fire station to significantly offset carbon emissions and dramatically reduce its electricity bills.
The Sheffield Fire and Rescue Command Centre presented some unique challenges as the building is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is equipped to maintain the emergency call centre in the event of a power cut. Because of the station’s 24/7 energy requirements, the solar array had to be designed to take into account the building’s three phase supply, back-up generators, UPS equipment and voltage optimisation, as well as the amount of space available on the roof – which spans different levels. In the end Solar Roof Solutions opted for a flat roof system installed with two independently tracked strings to maximise yield.
Victoria Marks, Director at Solar Roof Solutions said: “Being given the opportunity to work with Sheffield Fire & Rescue and help them achieve their goal of reducing their electricity bills has been fantastic. As a city-centre installation, it shows that larger scaled PV systems do work within the urban landscape and that they do help companies who are high users of electricity to drastically cut their overheads.”
“Hopefully more businesses will start to see the benefits of solar power as an efficient way of off setting their carbon emissions, as well as reducing the effects of the rising cost of energy on their profit margins.”
The project was undertaken in conjunction with Maidston Energy Ltd.
