British Library completes UK’s largest solar heat project

The iconic institution now has an array spanning 712.5 square metres, supplying all hot water demand for the building. 

One of London’s most famous cultural institutions, the British Library is now running its entire sanitary hot water and space heating on the new sola technology. Saving more than 55 tonnes of carbon annually, the system was installed by Naked Energy. 

The firm has fitted a total of 950 solar collectors across the Euston Road building’s roof space, generating 216 MWh of clean energy annually – equivalent to powering and heating a community centre or swimming pool for an entire year. 

Naked Energy’s unique Virtu product range was recently featured on our sister title, Environment Journal. A world first, the solar panels are capable of generating clean electricity and heat simultaneously, and can see overall grid reliance plummet by up to 50% with average carbon savings four times that of standard solar PV. 

However, the British Library application of this is comparatively unique in that collectors are also being used to maintain the precise temperature and humidity conditions required to preserve the priceless national collection of publications stored at the site. Comprising more than 170million items, the archive includes everything from newspapers to sound recordings. 

‘The British Library is delighted to have benefitted from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. We have received two grants under the scheme, one of which provided the funds for our supply partners CBRE to work with Naked Energy to design and install this innovative technology on our Grade I Listed building in London,’ said Patrick Dixon, Director of Estates and Construction at the British Library. 

‘This project is part of the Library’s commitment to environmental action and we are pleased to have formally launched our new Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy during Green Libraries Week,’ he continued. ‘The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and delivered by Salix Finance. It provides capital funding to public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.’

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Image: Naked Energy