Rooftop solar panels could power car parks

But in future council car parks in Hull could power themselves by photovoltaic panels on their rooftops.

Hull Council is about to go out to tender for a feasibility study to assess the practicalities of the scheme.

The idea is to use around 40 or 50 top-floor parking spaces in George Street, Osborne Street and Pryme Street, in the city centre.

Climate change officer Martin Budd said they would be using spare capacity within the car parks.

He said: "The top floors are all open to the elements.

"There was no question about the strength of the roofs because they take cars and they have a nice, flat surface so you can orientate them to an optimum angle south and there's nothing in the way like air conditioning, chimneys and vents.

"We think they will be able to provide all the energy the car parks need and also some of the power could be used for electric vehicle charging in the George Street car park."

The project has been made possible by the Government's feed-in tariff scheme, which guarantees a minimum payment for all electricity generated by the system, as well as a separate payment for any exported to the grid.

The idea is that the payments start off high then gradually decline over the years.

Hull Council has committed itself to matching the national target of reducing carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020, through a variety of means including producing more renewable energy.

Photovoltaic power generation is the fastest growing power generation technology in the world and although producing only a tiny fraction of the world's energy needs is being used in more than 100 countries.

Earlier this month the largest photovoltaic project in the world was completed in Ontario, Canada. The 80 megawatt solar farm covers around 973,000 square metres, or around 136 football fields.