Good news after the recent story regarding water shortages, as the construction of the world’s biggest floating solar farm is due for completion in a matter of days. Built on a manmade lake just outside of London, the farm will be used to generate power for local water treatment plants for years to come.

The farm features 23,000 solar panels and will be floated on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir near Heathrow - causing no harm to the ecosystem in the process. 

Owned by Thames Water, the farm will cost £6million and has been in development for five years. Lightsource Renewable Energy is responsible for its development, and it can contain 6.3MW of energy – equivalent to the electricity consumption of approximately 1,800 homes.

Thames Water’s energy manager, Angus Berry, said, “This will be the biggest floating solar farm in the world for a time – others are under construction. We are leading the way, but we hope that others will follow, in the UK and abroad.”

A smaller farm is currently under construction on a reservoir near Manchester, and an even bigger farm will be completed on a reservoir in Japan in 2018.

Here at TrakRap, we’re always on the lookout for energy efficient solutions to larger problems and we think that this is a particularly good example. Not only will the floating solar farm generate clean energy, it will also benefit London’s water supply and the millions who rely on it.