Edmonton home to north London’s largest solar array
The new EcoPark Array is due to be switched on in 2023 and make yearly carbon savings equivalent to over 10,000 trees.
North London Waste Authority (NLWA) has confirmed that 2,235 solar panels on the roof of the new recycling facilities are due to be switched on this summer. The EcoPark Array will produce renewable energy, equivalent to powering 300 homes[1] yearly with electricity, and has been added to the site as part of the North London Heat and Power Project (NLHPP).
Construction of the new recycling facilities at Edmonton EcoPark and a visitor and education centre, EcoPark House, are in the final stages prior to completion later this year. The recycling facilities and EcoPark House have been designed with an environmental and sustainability focus. Taylor Woodrow, the contractor delivering these buildings has worked with NLWA and its NLHPP partner organisations, to seek out opportunities to increase the environmental credentials of the project where possible.
The position of the recycling facility and the saw tooth roof, by architects Grimshaw and engineers WSP, have been optimised to incorporate the solar panels so that the facility gains the maximum generation of energy from the sun, and the internal environment is flooded with natural light. The EcoPark Array covers the size of a football field and will generate 918,488Kwh of renewable energy each year, to power the new facilities and be stored on site in the battery room at EcoPark House. Taylor Woodrow managed the installation, testing and commissioning of the solar panels, and were instrumental in combining them with the addition of five 150m deep boreholes linked to ground source heat pumps and an underfloor heating system to take EcoPark House completely off-grid, meaning it will rely solely on these renewable sources for electricity, heating, and cooling.
With the solar panels and ground source heat pumps, the carbon savings are expected to be up to 222,565kg of carbon dioxide each year, equivalent to carbon that is absorbed by 10,117 trees.
The North London Heat and Power Project (NLHPP) is delivering brand new sustainable waste management facilities at Edmonton EcoPark. This includes the most significant public sector investment in recycling infrastructure that London has seen for a generation.
The new recycling facilities will have capacity to manage 135,000 tonnes of recyclable material every year and a Public Reuse and Recycling Centre will enable north London residents and businesses to bring their recycling direct to the EcoPark for the first time ever. EcoPark House will be a facility for the local community to be able to learn more about waste management and recycling, and how to reduce the carbon impact of their waste.
Solar panels on the Resource Recovery Facility building