A £1.5m solar farm is to be built at the University of York to help make a new department self-sufficient in energy.

Located at the University’s new £45m Institute for Safe Autonomy (ISA), the farm will cover an area of around 1000-1500m2 and will power around 80% of the building’s expected daily usage.

Funded through the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF), the farm will also will boost the Institute’s research capabilities by providing a ‘living lab’, which will allow researchers to safely develop and use robots to inspect and maintain the solar farm.

The university says the project will enable the Institute to become energy self-sufficient and help meet itsnet-zero targets.

Professor Miles Elsden, Director of the Institute for Safe Autonomy, said the panels will provide around 200 kW of power to the building.

He said: “The facility will be made up of a range of different panel configurations - from static ground installations to sun-tracking arrays and vertical towers, to panels deployed on the side of the building and its rooftop.

“It is a really exciting and innovative project that shows our commitment as a University to sourcing sustainable energy.”

The new facility will be coupled with ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) technology that will be used to further increase the energy efficiency of the Institute to meet the remaining 20% of the building’s energy needs.

The solar farm is one of nine projects nationally that are set to improve environmental sustainability, thanks to almost £19m of funding from UKRPIF.

The investment will support universities to enhance, upgrade and adapt research centres and facilities to reduce their carbon emissions, and make research processes more environmentally sustainable.

With 23 per cent of the UK’s CO2 emitted from buildings and building usage, the nine projects will contribute to the government’s target to cut carbon emissions by 78% by 2035 and achieve net-zero by 2050.

The University of York’s Institute for Safe Autonomy is a new £45m initiative supported by UKRPIF funding and is due for completion this year.

The university says the institute provides an interdisciplinary hub for academics from across its departments to work with industry, government and the public to find solutions to the real-world challenges in assuring the safe roll-out of robotic and connected autonomous systems.

The £1.52m UKRPIF Net Zero award will enable the deployment of a photovoltaic (PV) array near to the building that, together with an enhanced, IoT-driven, building management system, will enable the Institute to become energy self-sufficient.