Solar panels to power park & ride site

Solar panel canopies will soon go into use at a park & ride in Cambridge

Cambridgeshire County Council will bring back into use at the end of the month, parking spaces where solar panels have now been installed at its St Ives Park & Ride.

The £5.6 million project, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund before Brexit, will create electricity which will power the site including up to 10 new electric vehicle charging points and will feed into the local grid.

The chargers will become available to use in November. CCTV has been put in place across the St Ives Park & Ride site, which can view all areas under the canopies to discourage anti-social behaviour.

Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s environment and green investment committee, Cllr Lorna Dupre, said: “We’d like to thank local people for their understanding whilst works have been ongoing and the amount of space for parking has been reduced.

“This has been a complex project and was significantly affected by manufacturing delays due to both Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These issues have been felt across the construction industry.

“Now, our contractors Equans have nearly finished their work. We’ve listened to local people who have told us that they would like to have the parking spaces re-opened as soon as possible even if that means before the electric vehicle charging facilities become available in a couple of months’ time.”

See further images below or video of the site here.