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    UK's Port of Barrow Floating Plan for 40-MW Solar Project on the Waters

    March 12, 2025
    ABP wants to install 47,000 panels which could be deployed in the available water area of Cavendish Dock in Barrow. The floating solar array project is named Barrow EnergyDock.
    Image credit Associated British Ports
    67d1ebaf450743f4e0984552 Abp Port Floating Solar

    Associated British Ports (ABP), the ports operator for the Port of Barrow, has applied for what it called the United Kingdom’s largest floating solar project.

    ABP wants to install 47,000 panels which could be deployed in the available water area of Cavendish Dock in Barrow, according to the BBC. The floating solar array project, named Barrow EnergyDock, will have a generating capacity in the region of up to 40 MW.

    The energy is intended to be used by the advanced manufacturing sector and will help to better control the cost of electricity at the port.

    “ABP's master planning team worked with the local Barrow team to design a Masterplan focussed on driving growth and strengthening the local economy in response to the significant investment coming to the region over the next ten to twenty years,” said Bryan Davies, Divisional Port Manager (Northwest and Scotland), ABP, in a statement. “Barrow EnergyDock is a pivotal step in realising our vision for a prosperous and sustainable future for Barrow."

    The solar panels will be mounted on floating pontoons fixed at an finest angle for solar generation, with the pontoons secured to the bottom of the dock by an anchoring system. The proposed array is expected to cover around one-third of the available water area in the dock and will be made up of circa 47,000 panels. While current leisure activities in the dock will continue, there is also scope for further leisure use in the future.

    The deployment of floating solar in Cavendish Dock as compared to ground-mount solar will provide renewable energy, while preserving port land for operational and manufacturing uses, that will support jobs and the wider economy.

    ABP commissioned Green Cat Renewables, an environmental and engineering consultancy, to help develop and deliver the planning application elements of the project.

    ABP’s marine consultancy and survey company, ABPmer, carried out many marine ecology and coastal waterbird surveys and assessments in and around Cavendish Dock and advised of no impacts from the development. 

    The Port of Barrow shipyard is among the largest in the United Kingdom. It is located in Furness, northwest England and surrounded by the Irish Sea to the south and west.