Kent and Canterbury needed 946.9kWp of solar PV across its estate. The best option was mixed mounting; one on-roof solar PV system was installed first, and two solar carports accounting for 851.5kWp made up the rest, while also being one of the largest NHS solar carport installations in the UK.
Carbon3 is delivering in phases, around a working hospital, with the utmost care for vulnerable patients and busy staff.
How the funding came together
The project was funded using Great British Energy funding. Carbon3 worked with the trust through feasibility, including assessing which parts of the estate could support solar at this scale, modelling expected yield, and building the case that GBE needed to see before committing funding to the project.
Phase 1
Carbon3 started on the barrel-roofed building before a ground works team arrived at the car park. A barrel roof is not a straightforward installation surface. The curved profile needs a different mounting approach, and structural loading has to be assessed before panels are installed. Carbon3’s in-house design team handled that, producing a layout that worked with the roof shape.
Why carports, rather than more on roof solar?
Hospital roofs are often complicated. They carry plant, pipework, and ventilation equipment that has accumulated over time, and all serves important functions within the hospital. What space remains can be structurally un-sound as older hospital buildings were not designed with the load-bearing capacity that a large panel array requires. And on sites where private clinics or facilities management companies occupy parts of the building, roof ownership isn’t always straightforward.
Car parks don’t have any of those problems. The land is owned, the space is already accounted for, and the air above the carpark is completely unused and under-utilised.
At Kent and Canterbury, two car parks that were doing one job are now doing many. They are generating solar energy for the hospital, as well as stopping staff and patients from being exposed to the elements. Patients arriving for appointments who are often elderly or unwell, can now walk from their car to the entrance under cover. There is less risk of trips and falls due to weather, or vulnerable patients being rained on. Where a carpark didn’t previously offer shelter, this can make a big difference to patients.
Phase 2
Two solar carports, making up 851.5kWp of solar, and one of the largest NHS installation of its kind. Each carport has the same programme, with surveys, ground works, structural frame installation, and solar panels. For both carports the surveys established what the ground could support and where columns needed to go. The ground works prepared the foundations. The carport wings were built out, and then the panels were installed.
The two carports ran one after the other rather than in parallel, so the hospital always had one section of parking while the other was under construction. That constraint shaped the entire delivery programme. Progress on carport two only began when carport one was back in use. In the mean time, Carbon3 also facilitated a park and ride service to supplement the reduced parking.
Once each structure has its solar installed, Carbon3 jet-washed the car park surface, redrew the bays, fitted protective coverings to the carport beams, and installed bumps at the base of the columns to stop cars hitting the steelwork.
This provides protection for the installation, but also gives the hospital a chance to have bigger and more accessible bays drawn in this time around.
One contractor for the whole project
Carbon3 acted as principal contractor across the full programme, including roof, carports, ground works, and finishing works. Road closures needed for access and deliveries were planned and coordinated by Carbon3, with permissions handled directly with the local authority. Local subcontractors were used for ground works, scaffolding, and specialist trades, all managed by Carbon3. The trust had one point of contact for a project running across multiple workstreams on a live hospital site.
DNO approvals, grid connection, health and safety, and commissioning were all handled by Carbon3’s team.
The site now has 946.9kWp of operational solar. The hospital’s grid consumption is lower, its carbon footprint smaller, and the car park is covered. There were no health and safety incidents on site. Carbon3 helped the trust get the funding and then delivered exactly to specification to keep the project compliant with funding requirements, and left the Trust with ownership of their own energy source.
What it means for the trust
The NHS has committed to net zero for direct emissions by 2040, with an 80% reduction required by the early 2030s. Energy is one of the largest controllable costs on a trust’s balance sheet, and since 2021 it has been unpredictable in ways that make financial planning difficult.
946.9kWp of on-site solar puts the hospital in control of a portion of its own generation and reduces what it owes the grid. The carports give patients and staff covered parking. And the GBE funding means the trust got there without impacting their capital budget.
If your roofs are unsuitable for solar PV, or you have already installed to capacity, consider utilising your carparks. Need feasibility studies to apply for funding? Contact us today.
