RJAH secures £2.4 million from NHS solar investment programme

The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital is delighted to have secured £2.4 million to significantly expand the amount of self-generated renewable energy it produces.

The money is coming from Great British Energy (GBE), which has launched a first ever solar investment programme for the NHS, which is providing £100 million to NHS Trusts across the UK.

The project will include three solar carports in staff and patient parking areas, roof-mounted panels on hospital buildings and a ground-mounted system on a small section of the hospital field.

Ben Huband, Estates Compliance and Energy Manager, said: “This investment allows us to take a significant step forward in making our hospital more sustainable.

“By expanding our solar capacity, we will reduce carbon emissions by approximately 230 tonnes annually, and save around £300,000 a year. It also helps prepare us for the reduced reliance on imported electricity and the future transition from fossil fuel heating systems.”

Phil Davies, Head of Estates and Facilities, said: “We’re delighted to be bringing these plans to life. Beyond generating clean energy, the project will enhance the hospital environment by introducing biodiversity measures including wildflowers and other planting schemes, while also supporting the NHS’s net zero goals.”

The hospital’s planning application seeks planning permission to utilise any part of the field for this scheme, though it will only actually use a very small area.

“There was a foreshortened timescale to secure the funding for this scheme so we had to submit the planning application before definitive locations for the panel installations could be finalised,” Phil explained.

“Our preferred location is on a disused bowling green on one area of the field. This is an unkempt area which is already partially enclosed by hedging, so any installation here would create an opportunity to improve the environment.

“However, the necessary surveys to confirm this site still need to be completed, so to mitigate this our approach has been to maintain a wider scope in order to encompass all potential site locations identified during the feasibility phase. This ensures we are prepared for any outcome once the survey data is available.

“We recognise this has caused some concern amongst our staff, but we want to assure them that we value the ‘Path of Positivity’ that runs around this field just as much as they do, and want to ensure the final site for this ground-mounted solar system does not detract from it. We hope that the wildflowers and other planting schemes as part of this project will actually help to enhance it.”

It is hoped that works will commence this month, and are expected to be completed by April 2026. Enabling works for the new solar car ports, which will go up in Car Park 3, have already begun. These car ports will be joined to the Trust’s electrical infrastructure, just as those in Car Park 4 already are.