World’s Largest Solar Bridge for London

London will soon host the largest solar bridge in the world, with the first pieces of the new Blackfriars railway station now being assembled in the UK's capital city.

The development will effectively extend the current Blackfriars Station out across the existing Blackfriars Bridge, giving it the capacity to handle larger trains and higher volumes of passengers.

Renewable energy technologies will be incorporated into the Blackfriars Bridge modernisation, in the form of photovoltaic panels, which convert solar energy into electricity. There'll be more than 4,400 photovoltaic cells, in all, and they'll be arranged in banks of about 50, positioned in parallel rows overhead the bridge.

World's Largest Solar Bridge

These solar panels will take up a total area of more than 6,000 square metres - giving London its largest solar array to date and the world its largest solar bridge of any kind. Ultimately, they'll be responsible for generating half the electricity used by the new Blackfriars Station - approximately 900,000 Kilowatt-hours per annum - and they'll cut back current Carbon Dioxide emissions levels by something like 511 tonnes every 12 months.

The Blackfriars Bridge's solar panels aren't the only environmental technology incorporated into the structure - there'll also be sun pipes for the production of natural lightning, and water recycling systems.

London Solar Bridge

Funding for the London solar bridge installation was supplied by the Department for Transport, via its dedicated safety and environment fund, while the installation itself is being carried out by Solarcentury, using SANYO Electric solar cells.

"We're creating a spacious, modern station and delivering a vastly improved train service for passengers, while at the same time installing London's largest solar array to make Blackfriars more environmentally-friendly and sustainable", Blackfriars project director at Network Rail, Lindsay Vamplew, explained in a company press release issued on 4 October 2011.

"The Victorian rail bridge at Blackfriars is part of our railway history. Constructed in the age of steam, we're bringing it bang up to date with twenty first century solar technology to create an iconic station for the city."

"It's fantastic to see this project finally come to fruition", Solarcentury's CEO, Derry Newman, added. "Blackfriars Bridge is an ideal location for solar; a new, iconic large roof space, right in the heart of London. For people to see that solar power is working is a vital step towards a clean energy future."

According to Network Rail's press release, there's just one other solar bridge in operation - Kurilpa Footbridge in Brisbane, Australia.

Image copyright and courtesy of Network Rail

See also:

Companies supplying Solar Power