Stourton Park and Ride was developed by Leeds City Council to introduce a wave of integrated renewable energy technology into the city. Now open, it has became the first fully solar powered park and ride in the country.

Stourton Park and Ride aims to improve Yorkshire’s local electric vehicle charging network and provide better connectivity while reducing carbon emissions in the city. The £38.5m project will help the region on their mission to become net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The site hosts a large 1.2MW system of Solar Car ports, a Smart HV/LV infrastructure, a high spec Battery Energy Storage System and a vast number of Electric Vehicle Charging Points. The system provides the site with a reliable source of renewable energy and high quality EV charging facilities.

The project consists of a multiple Y shaped solar carports, which are placed, in curved rows to cater for the circular design of the park and ride site.

This layout means that the edge of each solar carport had to be placed extremely close together to maintain the bend around the site, which therefore, required an extra level of skill from our technical design team.

 

In addition to this, a 500kW/ 950kWh Tesla battery has been integrated into the main building to maximize onsite consumption of the solar PV and help alleviate some of the peaks caused by simultaneous EV charging events.

What’s more, the facility will boast a solar generational capability of 1.2MWp, along with top of the range EV chargers to support the upcoming transition to electric vehicles.

The solar carport and 26 electric car-charging points will result in 471 tonnes of carbon being reduced each year, which is the equivalent of removing 203 cars from the roads.

As a result of this project, Leeds City Council has a modern renewable energy system with the potential for future expansion.

The system will reduce carbon emissions for many years to come, which is critical in helping the region to achieve their carbon neutral by 2030 and supports UK road user’s transition to clean energy.

Going forward, we will retain a full O&M contract for the next 5 years to ensure that it meets continues to perform at optimum levels.

Read more about the Stourton Park & Ride project today.