Falkirk Council : Plans revealed for Denny waste water treatment works

The water company wants to install ground mounted solar photovoltaic systems at the Denny site as part of its renewable energy strategy. Electricity generated by the PV scheme will be used on site to offset the power required to treat waste water.

According to the planning application, the proposed PV scheme at Denny will generate 399,277 kWh of electricity per annum, meeting 0.44 per cent of the Scottish Water Horizons target of 90GWh of new renewable generation by 2030.

With 42.7 per cent used on site, the remaining 57.3 per cent (228,909 kWh), is set to be exported to the grid annually.

The scheme will also allow for CO2 savings of approximately 64 tonnes each year and the project will contribute to Scottish Water’s ambition to have net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

The south-facing site, near Winchester Avenue industrial estate, has no major shading obstructions and is close enough to the main building to offer a suitable route for cabling from the array back to the connection point.

The area proposed for use is on a vacant part of the main treatment works’ operating site and is mostly rough scrub land with a number of small birch and willow trees along with hawthorn and gorse bushes.

These will all need to be removed to accommodate the panels but an assessment has shown they are self-seeded plants of “limited ecological value”.

The River Carron, and the tree bank that runs alongside it, will not be affected by the application and the nearest residents, 100 metres away, will not be affected, the applications states.

There is a row of mature poplar trees at the entrance to the treatment works and cabling for the new panels will be re-routed to avoid these.