Thameslink’s Bedford depot solar panel installation gets under way

A TOTAL of 932 photovoltaic panels are being installed at Thameslink’s Bedford Cauldwell Walk depot in the latest phase of a project to generate electricity using roof space at railway depots.

The project is the most recent phase of a partnership between the operator’s parent company Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and not-for-profit organisation Energy Garden, which has already led to solar cells being installed at Streatham Hill depot in South London.

It will give Cauldwell Walk one of the biggest solar arrays in the area, capable of generating 322 megawatt hours of electricity a year – the equivalent to powering 120 typical households for 12 months.

Half of the energy generated will be sold to GTR for depot needs. Energy Garden will invest profits from the sale of the rest into community development projects.

Part of GTR’s plan for all its energy needs to be carbon ‘net zero’ by 2050, it estimated that the installation at Cauldwell Walk, where Class 700 units are stabled and serviced (and an East Midlands Railway team maintains Class 360s), will reduce carbon equivalent emissions by more than 66 tonnes a year.

Solar panel installations are also planned for the depots at Selhurst depot in Croydon and Three Bridges in West Sussex.

GTR’s Net Zero Strategy also includes the removal of the few diesel multiple units in use in its operations through further electrification or use of batterypowered units. Southern is its only operating company to run them – and even it only has 17 Class 171 DMUs in a fleet of 233 trains, the rest of which are electric. Other measures include replacing gas as a source of depot heating, replacing fossil fuel systems and changing air conditioning systems to limit the potential environmental impact of refrigerant.