The Bottle Yard Studios will install a community-owned solar rooftop array to power its new premium facility TBY2 in the United Kingdom that is to open in Fall 2022.
The 1-MW solar array will comprise over 2,000 panels and be one of the largest of its kind in the country, the studio says. The solar array is over three times larger than the 283-kW solar array planned earlier. The bigger solar installation was made possible by funding from the Bristol Energy Cooperative.
“The Bottle Yard’s TBY2 facility is a massive site, with loads of opportunity for energy generation and CO2 reduction,” Bristol Energy Cooperative Project Developer Will Houghton said. “So for this project, we were determined to make full use of the available roof space. To put it into context, the amount of energy this array is capable of generating could power more than 250 average Bristol households per year.”
Any surplus energy produced at the site will be used through the City Leap Sleeved Pool electricity supply model, which connects buildings and ‘sleeves’ so surplus energy produced from one energy can be delivered to another to reduce the consumption of energy from non-renewable sources.
Laura Aviles, Senior Film Manager (Bristol City Council), who oversees The Bottle Yard Studios, said: “Our new TBY2 facility has been designed and built with sustainability in mind at every stage, with premium insulation throughout and a sophisticated building management system to ensure optimal energy conservation. We’re hugely proud that the exterior of the building is being put to such valuable use, hosting a community-owned PV array of this size which will generate a huge amount of clean energy to power the site, with surplus energy benefitting the city of Bristol.”
Bottle Yard Studios was created 11 years ago and has produced numerous British and trans-Atlantic shows such as “Hellboy,” “The Outlaws” and “Wolf Hall.” The original studio is housed in a former winery and bottling plant in Bristol.
