Airport Arrivals Building

75kWp New Arrivals Building, Bournemouth Airport

Objective
As part of  Bournemouth Airport’s £45 million redevelopment programme the new construction of a new departures building building presented the opportunity to use the roof space to generate an income from the Feed-in Tariff while meeting the planning requirements and building regulations. MAG, the airport owners have a progressive sustainability programme that incorporates stringent energy saving initiatives as well as significant renewable carbon saving energy initiatives across their 4 airports.

The departures building is ideally orientated to south and additionally benefits from the increased sunshine hours due to it’s coastal position. South Facing won the tender on a superior technical bid and design solutions. Roof space is tight and shading from the north lights and plant deck reduced the original scheme from 100kWp design to 75kWp.  A mounting system that maximised the available space and performance was required.

Solution
South Facing worked closely with the Architect, Builder, Structural Engineers and M&E consultant to design a system that would achieve the best returns for the client. The Solar PV arrays on the southern pitch of the north lights are at 30 degrees and the remaining roof space utilises 15degree pitched A frames – South Facing designed the ballast system specifically so that the roof membrane was not penetrated but was also light enough to be supported by the lightweight steel roof.

System details
320 x Moser Baer 230Watt poly crystalline were mounted on ballasted aluminium A frames
Inverters – 4 SMA 17000 Inverters positioned on the plant deck convert the DC electricity from the modules into AC and the system is connected to the grid in the ground floor switch room.
Total installed 75kWp

Result
The Solar PV roof system is a good looking addition to the building that generates an income of over 11% per year for the client and CO2 emissions reduction of over 50 tonnes