Turning an everyday car park into a 62.25 kWp renewable energy asset.

At Heywood Sports Village in Rochdale — a busy council-owned leisure facility with swimming pools, a gym and outdoor sports pitches, operated on behalf of Rochdale Borough Council — Polysolar designed, engineered and built a solar carport canopy over the site's main car park, delivering clean power directly to the building while giving 24 parking bays weather protection and lighting.

The project was delivered as part of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's drive toward a carbon-neutral city region by 2038, funded via a grant with a tight construction deadline.

The Challenge

Rochdale Borough Council wanted to cut the sports centre's grid electricity consumption and generate on-site renewable power, without disrupting day-to-day access to a live, publicly used car park. The brief called for a 60 kWp target system, a maximum clearance of 4m to comply with permitted development rules, and construction phased to minimise disruption to visitors and nearby residents. We also installed ducting ready for the site to install EV chargers.

Our Solution

Polysolar delivered a full turnkey design-and-build package — from ground investigations and planning consent through to grid connection, commissioning and handover — covering:

• A double mono-pitch carport canopy spanning 33.1m x 9.03m, covering 24 parking bays, rising from 2.51m at the rear to 4m at its highest point over the entrance
• 150 TW-Solar 415W panels, arranged 5-deep across 30 columns, using high-efficiency (20.9%) shingle-cell technology built for the impact resistance and durability carport roofs demand
• A single 50kW Solis inverter, housed in the plant room alongside the export limiter
• Integrated LED lighting — 12 high-output, IP65-rated fittings with PIR motion sensors, so lights only activate in low light and hold for 3 minutes, minimising unnecessary energy use
• Signaline linear heat detection cable, providing continuous fire monitoring along the full length of the canopy for early warning
• A galvanised steel structural frame (80-micron average galvanising) engineered to full structural calculations, on bespoke foundations designed for the site

The system is configured so that on-site loads — lighting, inverters and other equipment — draw first from solar generation, with any surplus exported to the grid, maximising the value of every kWh produced on site.

The Results

The system was MCS-accredited on completion, and — at the client's request — Polysolar extended warranty cover across the whole installation to 10 years, spanning the carport structure, foundations, cabling and inverter, on top of the panels' standard 12-year product and 25-year performance warranties.

Want a solar carport that turns your car park into a power station? Get in touch to discuss your site: 01223 911534