WIREDGOV

The solar panels on the roof of London's City Hall were officially unveiled today. City Hall now has a unique photovoltaic system designed to complement the rounded shape of one of London's most iconic buildings.

The photovoltaic panels have a peak capacity of 67kW and are expected to generate about 50,000kWh of renewable electricity, saving up to 33 tonnes of CO2, each year.
The complex geometry of the roof required an innovative design solution. Normal photovoltaic panels are rectangular and aluminium framed whereas City Hall’s panels are made-to-measure trapezoidal (four-sided shape of which two sides are parallel and two are nonparallel), bare unframed glass in a black colour. This allowed the 617 panels to be arranged in concentric circles around the roof in order to maintain and enhance the aesthetic integrity of the building.

To develop the glass-glass laminate array for the ‘eyelash’ all 46 photovoltaic panels were of different size and cell layout to adjust to the curved design of the building and changing pitch. The array includes some of the largest glass-glass laminated photovoltaic panels manufactured in the UK to date.

Photovoltaic technology is a safe, proven, efficient and economic way of generating electricity that does not release any emissions that contribute to climate change. Its benefits include:

• a dedicated, clean and safe power source providing free and inexhaustible energy from the sun
• no moving parts and near silent operation
• no CO2 emissions
• minimal maintenance
• no toxic emissions.

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: 'Reducing carbon emissions in order to tackle climate change is the biggest challenge facing this planet. This renewable energy scheme is an example of City Hall leading by example.'

Deputy Mayor of London, Nicky Gavron, said: 'The solar panels for City Hall have been expertly designed in order to compliment the unique shape of the building. I hope that more organisations will follow suit and install solar panels on their own buildings.'

Grant Brooker, Senior Partner at Foster+Partners, said: 'The installation of photovoltaic cells on the roof of City Hall completes the building as originally designed. This would not have been possible without the direct help and support that we have enjoyed from the Mayor and the Greater London Authority, planners at Southwark, the LCCA and our clients at More London. The installation is the most apparent and physical manifestation of the building's sustainable design agenda. We totally support the Mayor in his goals and we hope that City Hall will act as an inspiration to others designing sustainable buildings in our capital.’

Allan Jones, Chief Executive of the London Climate Change Agency, said: 'This project has successfully integrated photovoltaic solar energy into the design of City Hall and provides an excellent example of a renewable energy flagship project which due to its iconic design and landmark location will be seen by over 3 million people a year.

'We are actively engaged in promoting and delivering more projects of this kind, as well as working with EDF Energy as the London ESCO, (a public/private joint venture pan-London Energy Services Company), to design, finance, build and operate de-centralised energy schemes for new and existing development, including large-scale renewable energy schemes. The London Climate Change Agency is currently working in joint venture with EDF Energy on a number of ESCO projects with developers and other stakeholders for both new and existing development.'

Notes to Editors:

1. The London Climate Change Agency (LCCA) was set up by the Mayor to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from London. It is a commercial company wholly owned, controlled by and housed in the London Development Agency. The work of the LCCA is a key part of the Mayor's commitment to making London a sustainable world city.

2. Project Description:

The budget cost of the PV system to the LCCA was £540,000. Grant Support from the DTI (now BERR) was £190,000.

The photovoltaic modules comprise two elements:
The domed roof: 617 high efficiency bespoke photovoltaic modules (9 different sizes/shapes) manufactured by Romag; 51 of the modules over the existing skylights are translucent. Each of the 617 modules contain 36 mono-crystalline E-Ton cells (22,212 in total), and is clamped to a lightweight aluminium support structure which is fixed to the corrugated roof sheet under the insulation and waterproof roof membrane. The total installed capacity on the domed roof is 52.4kWp; The eyelash shading: 46 bespoke integrated glass-glass laminated panels manufactured by Romag with 5,872 mono-crystalline E-Ton cells. The panels fit into the supports formerly used by the mesh shading, and have a total install capacity of 14.6kWp.


For media enquiries, please contact Rachel Clark at the LDA Media Team on 020 7593 8616 or email rachelclark@lda.gov.uk.