Bottle Yard’s new studio to be powered by solar energy

The Bottle Yard Studios’ new studio facility, TBY2, which is due to open next month, will be powered by a giant 1MWp solar array.

The system consists of more than 2,000 panels. The solar array is being funded by the latest share offer of the Bristol Energy Cooperative (BEC), the community-owned energy cooperative. Bristol City Council, which owns and runs The Bottle Yard Studios, initially planned to install a 283kWp solar array on the rooftop of TBY2, but through funding from Bristol Energy Cooperative (BEC), the final array will be more than three times larger than originally planned.

The solar array will be installed by Solar South West.

TBY2 is less than half a mile from the main Bottle Yard site in South Bristol and provides fully sound insulated and acoustically treated stages offer 20,000 sq ft, 16,500 sq ft and 7,000 sq ft of clear span build space with maximum heights of 34ft. More than 40,000 sq ft of additional ancillary space will include serviced production offices, prop stores, construction workshops, costume/makeup and break out areas.

Laura Aviles, senior film manager, Bristol City Council, who oversees The Bottle Yard Studios, said: “Our new TBY2 facility has been designed and built with sustainability in mind at every stage, with premium insulation throughout and a sophisticated building management system to ensure optimal energy conservation. We’re hugely proud that the exterior of the building is being put to such valuable use, hosting a community-owned PV array of this size which will generate a huge amount of clean energy to power the site, with surplus energy benefitting the city of Bristol.”

Councillor Kye Dudd, cabinet member for Climate, Ecology, Waste and Energy, added: “The Bottle Yard’s new TBY2 facility and what it can offer to Bristol is immense. It’s not just the growth in film and TV production for the city, but it’s the commitment to help deliver Bristol’s 2030 carbon neutral ambition and the community and partnership working that underpins it. I look forward to visiting TBY2 when it opens later this year and seeing firsthand the collection of energy efficient measures operating.”

Will Houghton, Bristol Energy Cooperative project developer, said: “Solar arrays are often designed to cover just a small part of a roof, to reduce costs. But we’re in a climate crisis, and in order to meet Bristol’s climate goals we‘re aiming much higher than that. The Bottle Yard’s TBY2 facility is a massive site, with loads of opportunity for energy generation and CO2 reduction. So for this project, we were determined to make full use of the available roof space. To put it into context, the amount of energy this array is capable of generating could power more than 250 average Bristol households per year.”