United Utilities is to build a £3.5m floating solar power system on the Godley reservoir in Hyde in Manchester.
The development will consist of 12,000 solar panels and cover an area of 45,500 square metres. It will be the second biggest floating solar plant in the world when complete, after one located in Japan.

The company aims to complete the installation, test it and bring it into operation before Christmas 2015.
Once complete, the 12-week project will provide United Utilities with 2.7GWh per year of electricity.

United Utilities head of renewable energy Chris Stubbs said: “We have a target to generate 35% of our power requirements by 2020 and this project will make a significant contribution to that aim. As part of United Utilities’ energy strategy to generate more power we identified the Godley reservoir as a suitable site to install a floating solar array to provide the water treatment works with approximately 33% of its energy requirements.”

He also added :

“While floating solar has been deployed elsewhere around the world, most notably in Japan, it is a new technology to the UK. Installations such as the Godley solar scheme will help us to keep energy costs and water customers’ bills low.”