New Dawn For Solar Power At Historic Hydro Site
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Drax.
This is the sub-heading.
Renewable energy pioneer Drax has completed the first in a series of solar power installations across its historic Galloway and Lanark hydropower schemes in Scotland
These paragraphs add more details.
The state-of-the-art panels have been installed on the roof of Glenlee power station in Galloway as part of an £850,000 investment by Drax. Around 1,500 panels will be fitted as part of the project by Drax’s project partner Geo Green Power. The renewable electricity generated by the panels will mainly be used to meet the hydro scheme’s own power needs, helping to cut an estimated 500 tonnes of CO2 through displacing the need for fossil-fuel generation from the national grid.
The initiative is a positive step towards realising Drax’s commitment of achieving net zero emissions across its value chain by the end of 2040.
This solar installation seems a sensible one.
- I suspect the solar panels, share the grid connection with the hydropower scheme’s existing one.
- The panels are on the roof, so I doubt anyone will see them and complain.
- The solar panels will cut the need for fossil-fuel generation.
- Drax has nine hydro power stations in the UK, so I suspect others can have solar roofs.
It does seem, that those with big roofs are being signed up to cover them with solar.
In SSE Energy Solutions Powers Ascot’s Shift To Electrification With One Of UK Sport’s Largest Rooftop Solar Projects, I wrote about how Ascot racecourse had been fitted with a solar roof, at no upfront capital cost to the racecourse.
How Much Solar Power Will Be Installed In The UK By 2030?
I asked Google AI this question and received this reply.
The UK government aims to install 45 to 47 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity by 2030.
Key Details
Current Capacity: The UK has roughly 17.5 to 18 GW of installed solar capacity.
The Plan: Reaching the 2030 goal means more than doubling or nearly trebling current capacity.
The Strategy: The UK Solar Roadmap outlines a push for a “rooftop revolution” alongside large-scale ground solar farms. It allocates about 36.2 GW to distribution networks and 10.8 GW to transmission connections.
It looks to me, that if you have a large roof, use a lot of electricity and have a good grid connection, you might get a solar panel salesman knocking on your door.
But if it all works out, the UK will end up with 45 to 47 GW of grid-connected solar power.
Interesting about Galloway and Ayr.
We near Carlisle and have solar panels on our roof and the panels face south.
According to the manufacturers ratings they should generate 4.2kw but the most we see on a sunny summer day is 3.6kw.
We can get up to 20kw per day in the summer.
But from around 1st November to 31st March we get almost nothing. There might be up to 10 sunny days. But on cloudy days we get maybe 2 KW on a good day.
So the panels may as well not be there during winter months.
Galloway and Ayrshire being on the west coast will no doubt have similar weather so winter solar generation will come down to location and whether you are in a rain shadow of somewhere higher.
We are in a rain shadow the Lake District to the south west or the Pennines to the south and east but even if we don’t get the rain it can still be overcast all day.
Comment by chilterntrev | September 23, 2026 |