The challenge
Princess of Wales Hospital is a large acute-care NHS site operating 24/7 clinical services, diagnostic imaging, theatres and continuous critical-care demand. Two realities shaped the solar brief. First, the site carries a complex roof geometry: nine pitched roof elevations of differing orientations and pitches, plus one flat roof — meaning no single string layout could serve the whole building. Second, any works around a working acute hospital have to be coordinated against live ambulance-bay movements, main entrance footfall, clinical service continuity and the UHB permit-to-work regime, with zero tolerance for clinical disruption.
Our solution
FLD designed the installation roof-plane by roof-plane across all nine pitched elevations and the flat roof, specifying 473 Trina 500W panels for the best balance of yield and aesthetic fit. Four SolarEdge 50 kW commercial inverters were installed in parallel with module-level optimisers on every panel — so shading or soiling on any one elevation does not drag the wider array. A G99 connection was coordinated with the DNO ahead of panel delivery so network approval and installation ran in parallel rather than in series. Scaffold and roof access were phased around ambulance-bay operations, main entrance footfall and the UHB permit-to-work system. Monitoring was configured for the Cwm Taf Morgannwg estates team to feed into NHS Wales decarbonisation reporting.
The result
Estimated annual solar production of 218.44 MWh. Annual CO2 savings of 42.24 tonnes — equivalent to 1,940 trees planted. Estimated lifetime ROI approximately £1.2 million against a 3.5-year estimated payback on the £227,000 capex. The system is now feeding the Cwm Taf Morgannwg estate carbon reporting against NHS Wales net-zero targets.
Factory, warehouse and commercial rooftop solar from 30 kWp to 1 MW across Swansea, Cardiff, Newport, Pembrokeshire and the wider South Wales region.
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