Port of Barrow submits planning application for UK’s largest floating solar panel project

Associated British Ports (ABP) has taken a step forward in its controversial plans for the Port of Barrow by submitting a planning application for the UK’s largest floating solar project.

The project, to be based in Cavendish Dock, will be the largest of its kind in the UK, with a projected generating capacity in the region of 40MWp, enough to power the equivalent of around 14,000 homes each year.

The energy is intended to be used by the advanced manufacturing sector and to help better control the cost of electricity at the port.

The solar panels will be mounted on floating pontoons fixed at an optimum angle for solar generation, with the pontoons secured to the bottom of the dock by an anchoring system.

The proposed array would cover around one-third of the available water area in the dock and would be made up of approximately 47,000 panels. ABP said current leisure activities in the dock would continue and there may be scope for further leisure use in the future.