Helping a council and hospital meet decarbonization targets with a solar farm

Coed Ely Solar Farm Planning Application

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council sought to power the Royal Glamorgan Hospital with a new grid-scale solar farm. The Council engaged our multidisciplinary team of engineers and renewable energy specialists to lead the feasibility studies and guide the planning application for this project.

One of the key features of this effort was that the planned solar farm would provide a valuable new use for the selected brownfield site, a former coal tip. While the soil quality on this reclaimed colliery site is unsuitable for crops, it does support grazing. Through the Council’s scheme, grazing rights for animals have been maintained, alongside a clean energy scheme.

Our main challenge was overcoming the site’s topography. Through careful solar design and geological investigations, we determined the optimum layout for the scheme and cable routes to the hospital.

We handled the full photovoltaic (PV) design including mounting, electrical infrastructure, panels, site access, foundation design, and layout. We also modeled the costs and the long-term financial benefits to the local authority in keeping with their climate change strategy.

We also supported the council in procuring the contractor who will oversee the build phase in and assist with the operations and maintenance program that follows.

The site will contain up of 10,992 PV panels, half of which will face east and half west, allowing continual use throughout the day. The panels will be installed at a low pitch to reduce potential glare sometimes associated with solar farms. Underground cables will connect the solar farm to the local distribution network and the hospital.

When complete, the solar farm at Coed Ely is expected to deliver a reduction of more than 7,355 tons of carbon during its 40-year lifespan. It will connect five megawatts of power directly to the national grid and one megawatt via private wire to the nearby Royal Glamorgan Hospital.