‘A scheme which benefits customers and the environment’ – Southern Water’s first solar energy project goes live in Gosport

Senior leaders toured the site at Peel Common in Gosport to mark the latest step on the company’s journey toward achieving net zero carbon emissions.

The total number of solar panels owned by Southern Water is now 15,179.

Stuart Ledger, Chief Financial Officer, was joined by members of the company’s Commercial Energy Team and from Engineering and Technical Solutions who installed the panels on the roof of the largest building on the site.

In 2022 Southern Water announced the signing of a new eight-year framework with suppliers to develop solar energy infrastructure.

The first phase involves 17,822 solar panels being installed across 12 different sites, totalling some 4.9 hectares.

Ledger said: ‘This work is a fantastic example of succeeding together with teams across Southern Water and our supply chain to deliver a scheme which benefits our customers and the environment – and there’s so much more to come

‘It’s so important we drive down our consumption of energy and generate our own power. This not only helps reduce our costs – which can help keep customer bills low – but it also helps protect the environment.’

Kirsten Abbott, Commercial Energy Manager, added: ‘Installing renewable assets helps us towards our commitment to achieving net zero.

‘Over the next few years we’ll roll out more solar on our operational sites which will give us more assets generating electricity where it’s needed.’

*Southern Water serves 2.6 million customers with drinking water and 4.6 million with wastewater services, covering Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, East and West Sussex and Kent.

On an average day, they supply 556 million litres of water and treat 13371 million litres of wastewater.

Between 2020 and 2025, the company are injecting £2 billion into improving their performance.