Bradford Cathedral, the first in UK powered by Solar Energy

Have you heard about the Bradford Cathedral? Probably not. Well, now they are making breaking news, being the first Cathedral in the UK which generates its own electricity via solar panels. The solar PV system was installed by a specialized company, Sundog Energy located in Cumbria. Of course, these actions required permission from the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, the English Heritage and of course, from the local authorities, the Bradford Council.

 The project consisted in the installation of 42 Trina Solar modules on the roof of the buildings in a way which would not affect the beauty of the architecture. Obviously, the constructor and the project first had to convince the authorities of these things, then they begun to work on the project.

  Reverend. Andrew Williams, who is a Canon Pastor at the Bradford Cathedral made the following statement:

"As the person driving the project forward from this end I wanted to express our total satisfaction with the professional manner in which Sundog Energy undertook this installation. As this was a pioneer project (with no other cathedrals having installed PV) the preparations had to be thorough. This meant a wide gap between the original quotation and commissioning the work, but your company agreed to honour the quotation.

“The team who installed the system was thoroughly professional in their approach; they were patient, cooperative and flexible, willing to have their work interrupted by the arrival of newspaper and TV reporters. I would like to pay special tribute to the site manager for Sundog Energy. He was courteous, efficient and totally professional at all times and ensured that the installation was completed on time, as promised.

“I know that this particular project has generated considerable interest; indeed, we are getting regular requests for advice from churches and individuals. I am always happy to name our suppliers and believe that Sundog has had several approaches following the publicity here. When we initiated this project we knew it was essential to select a contractor with a sound track record, whose experience and expertise we could trust; we are delighted that this trust has been vindicated." 

 The total power installed is a 9.9 kWp array and will be a real money earner for the cathedral administration, it is expected to save thousands of pounds/year  off the electricity bill and of course, it will play a significant role in reducing carbon emissions.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/