UK Energy Giant Adds Solar to 8 Scottish Hydro Stations

A major UK energy company is doubling down on renewable power by pairing solar panels with flowing water.

Drax just finished installing its first solar array at the Glenlee hydropower station in Galloway, Scotland. It's the first of eight run-of-river hydro sites across Galloway and Lanark that will get the solar treatment over the coming months.

The setup is smart. Each hydropower station normally pulls electricity from the local grid to run its operations. Now, the solar panels plug directly into that same system, offsetting what the station needs to import. When the sun generates more than the station requires, excess power flows back out to the local grid.

Mike Wynd, Drax's Head of Hydro, says the investment makes business sense on multiple levels. The company is spending £850,000 (about $1.2 million) to install roughly 1,500 SunPower panels across all eight sites. That adds up to 693 kilowatts of capacity generating 480 megawatt-hours annually.

"This is an attractive investment for Drax, both commercially and for meeting our sustainability goals," Wynd explained. "We will reduce our demand for electricity and the costs we incur as a business for power."

The project required careful planning. Scotland's weather meant the mounting systems needed extra scrutiny to handle wind and rain loads. Drax partnered with Geo Green Power for installation and chose SolarEdge inverters to convert the sun's energy into usable electricity.

The Ripple Effect: When established energy companies invest in combining renewable sources, they prove these technologies work in harmony rather than competition. Drax's hybrid approach could become a model for hydropower operators worldwide looking to maximize clean energy output while cutting operational costs. The company is already eyeing more opportunities, including a pumped storage facility near Oban that might be next in line.

This marks another step toward Drax's ambitious goal of net-zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2040. By layering solar onto existing renewable infrastructure, the company is showing how the clean energy transition can build on itself.

Sometimes the brightest future comes from making good things work even better together.