Solar panels back at Holyrood... 10 years on from deadly bug
Green heating sparked legionella outbreak
SOLAR panels are set to return to the roof of the Scottish parliament – almost a decade after sparking a legionella outbreak.
Holyrood chiefs say a ‘complete rethink’ is needed to prevent the building from missing future climate change targets.
An energy strategy was agreed by MSPs in recent weeks, including a recommendation to install solar panels within six months.
The report to the parliament’s Corporate Body said: ‘PV [photovoltaic] technology is improving fairly rapidly and it is likely that efficiency of power generation will improve by a reasonable amount between now and 2050.
‘Costs have also reduced dramatically and this is likely to continue.’
It added: ‘Officials believe that there are no efficiency gains or monetary savings to be realised by waiting, and believe that the energy saving potential is enough incentive to start exploring PV options in 2017-18.’
The original £414 million building was fitted with 27 slabs of solar panels at a reported cost of £50,000. They were expected to generate enough power annually to heat 40,000 litres of water, but were beset with problems.
In 2008, they were found to be the source of the deadly legionella bug poisoning the water in Queensberry House, which included the offices of then Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson. A further outbreak was reported in 2009 and the panels were decommissioned.
James Price of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘Every taxpayer in Scotland should remember the cautionary tale of Holyrood’s tortured creation, when the budget spiralled and the final cost was eyewatering. Any new announcement of further works should be examined thoroughly.
‘The Scottish Government has more pressing concerns.’
MSPs want the parliament building to meet the Scotland-wide target of cutting emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
The report said: ‘A few years ago, the carbon intensity factor was dominated by the relative balances of coal and gas.
‘This is now having less of an impact, perhaps in part due to the lower gas price resulting from large-scale fracking in the US and the drop in oil prices, but also due to the significant deployment of wind power.
‘The UK Government has produced a route map for decarbonisation of the electricity bid… If the UK Government’s projections for decarbonisation are accurate, the parliament will need to do less to reduce its emissions and instead rely on the decarbonisation of the grid to bring about the reductions needed.
‘However, this would not deliver the cost-saving benefits that would arise from reducing energy consumption and adopting on-site renewables.’
Conservationists say any changes to the building must remain true to late Catalan architect Enric Miralles’s original concept.
Terry Levinthal, director of the Cockburn Association, said: ‘Having spent so much money getting this cutting-edge design in the first place, let’s not compromise it going forward.’
A Scottish parliament spokesman said: ‘We are investigating whether there is a business and environmental case for installing solar.’