Overview of the challenges
Lincolnshire Police has a broad set of internal values and behaviours which cover both societal and environmental issues, including their ambitions to reduce CO2 emissions and generate renewable energy across their sites.
To meet these goals, they decided to invest in electric vehicles and EV infrastructure, along with installing solar systems across seven of their sites including Boston, Spalding, Skegness, Louth, Sleaford, Gainsborough, and their Head Quarters (HQ) in Lincoln.
However, to deliver this project successfully several specific challenges would need to be addressed:
- Each of their police stations has diesel generators and UPS backup power which could cause potential issues during a power outage with the solar systems back-feeding the generator and supplying more power than was required.
- In addition, the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) required that any export of power to the grid from the Lincoln HQ site would be prevented.
- The secure nature of the police environments meant anyone accessing these sites would require additional security clearance.
- The project was delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic which meant all guidelines had to be followed, and the health and safety of the team was prioritised throughout.
Our approach
We started the project by analysing the electrical demand at each site to ensure the solar PV systems were sized to generate the right amount of energy for use onsite and limit much being exported to the grid.
To address the specific challenges faced by the project we did the following:
- We installed contactors to disconnect the solar systems from the generators in the event of a power outage, automatically reconnecting them when the grid power returns.
- The inverter manufacturer’s G100 approved export limiting capabilities means no excess power can be exported to the grid at their Lincoln HQ site. We also fitted an additional failsafe relay to monitor the HV connection point.
- We ensured all our team was fully vetted and security cleared to meet client requirements.
- In addition to our usual focus on high standards of health and safety, we worked with Lincolnshire Police to develop a pandemic-specific safety system that included social distancing and the use of extra PPE.
Post project delivery, we are maintaining and optimising all of the solar PV systems across the seven sites through our bespoke monitoring solution, and full reactive and scheduled maintenance services.
The result
In total, we installed eight systems consisting of 664 solar modules across seven sites, completing the project in December 2020 which has delivered:
- 275.76 kWp development generating enough energy to charge 238,371 electric cars in a year
- 107 tonnes of CO2 removed each year
