London’s Blackfriars Station Full Open This Month As Part of World’s Largest Solar Railway Bridge
July 17, 2012 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
London’s Blackfriars solar railway bridge. Photo courtesy of designer and installer Solarcentury.
London’s Blackfriars central railway station, which spans the iconic River Thames, will be fully operational for passengers this month with two new entrances, four new platforms, and a new London Underground station.
Network Rail – which is doing the rebuilding – said the new station’s roof will be home to about 4,400 solar panels that are expected to generate up to 50 percent of the station’s energy needs. The solar panels for the Blackfriars station were funded by the UK Department of Transport’s safety and environment fund.
The solar panels – manufactured by Panasonic, but designed and installed by Solarcentury – will cover an area of about 6,000 square meters, making the Blackfriars the largest solar bridge in the world.
The bridge is expected to generate about 900,000 kilowatts of electricity every year, and save over 500 tons of CO2 annually. Work on the bridge is expected to be completed later this year.
“Blackfriars is the first bridge over the Thames since the 13th century London Bridge to generate its own power. The old London Bridge used waterwheels to drive water pumps and grain mills,” said Solarcentury.