The spotlight is on solar power in the water sector with the cost of energy rising up agendas. Increasing prices are having a significant impact on bottom lines and, given the energy intensive nature of treatment facilities, water companies are looking to innovate power generating solutions as a way of mitigating the impact. Installing solar systems is no longer simply an issue of sustainability for businesses in this sector. While it is still the case that water treatment firms are looking at the solution as a way to create environmentally-friendly sites, there are also commercial aspects behind the decisions to invest. Budgets of hundreds of millions of pounds are being drawn up to spend on renewables as sources of on-site energy production, in order to cut costs in the long run. For instance, United Utilities (UU) has ongoing carbon reduction plans to help the company halve its 2006 carbon emissions levels by 2035, and the scale of its required energy consumption means it needs to generate part of its own energy in order to do this.
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