A thousand solar panels have now successfully been integrated at a water treatment works in the service of Edinburgh and areas within West Lothian by Scottish Water. As a result, 25% of Marchbank Water Treatment Works’ energy is now sourced from solar panels and the associated energy., which supports the treatment works’ ability to provide for some 68,000 properties.

Capable of producing some 0.2GWh per year, the solar panels serve as progress in the environmental agenda, where the treatment works is looking to handle the balance of where it sources its energy from, effectively prioritising renewable sources of energy. And with the treatment works presently outputting some 40 mega-litres of water on a daily basis, the operations of the works of undeniable proportion, serving drinking water to some 17,000 properties in areas of West Lothian, and Southern and Western Edinburgh.

The project is the latest of those developed by Scottish Water Horizons, the public utility’s subsidiary which essentially exists to promote the inauguration of a sustainable economy for Scotland itself. Nodding to the sheer amount of energy utilised around Scotland for Scottish Water’s operations, the organisation’s General Manager, Chris Toop, explained: “Every day, Scottish Water provides our customers with a massive 1.34 billion litres of drinking water and then treats over 840 million litres of waste water. This means we currently need 440GWh of electricity annually around Scotland.”

And considering the scope of the company’s operations, electricity usage can prove to be quite expensive, which is why Scottish Water has, in turn been working hard to reduce the amount of energy purchased, which can be achieved through self-generating energy with solar panels. This, in effect, will then allow for Scottish Water to keep a hold down on customer charges, maintaining them below the UK average, yet also delivering a high standard of service, as explained by Chris Toop.