Solar engineers had to abseil down the roof of an energy from waste plant in Slough to install solar PV panels.

The Lakeside plant near Heathrow Terminal 5 can process 410,000 tonnes of non-recyclable residual waste a year, generating 37 megawatts of sustainable power.

The 1,000 solar panels stretched out over its south-facing curved roof will generate 230,500 Kwh of energy and save 137,000 tonnes of carbon a year.

Danny Coulston, Director of Operations at Lakeside which is run by Grundon Waste Management and Viridor said: “Although the Lakeside facility has been running for four years now, we are continuously trying to maximise operating efficiency – particularly the amount of energy we use.

“We were delighted to have it confirmed that even in the UK, a country not well known for its brilliant weather, solar technology performs really well.”

It was a technically tricky challenge for installers BELECTRIC, said the solar firm’s CEO Toddington Harper: “Abseiling and operating on such a steeply curved roof at great height, under a take-off flight path from Heathrow Airport were just some of the distinctive hurdles that we safely overcame to deliver this local project.”