The challenge
A university campus doesn’t stop for a solar install. Students, staff and campus traffic were moving around the buildings the whole time, and the work couldn’t get in the way of the university’s day-to-day running. With seven buildings to fit, every task was planned week by week and run under the site’s permits for working at height, electrical isolation and hot works.
Getting materials onto the roofs was a job in itself. Some of the buildings are tall, and pallets of panels are heavy, so every lift needed proper planning and a safe zone underneath.
Templeman Library already had an older ballasted solar array on its flat roof, which had to come off before the new system could go on. Bird-exclusion netting covered parts of the roofs and had to be taken down where loading platforms went up. Some disconnection work could only happen at night. The design also changed during the job, including the flat-roof mounting. Finally, every connection had to meet the network operator’s witness testing and compliance checks before the systems could go live.
Our solution
- Cleared the old array first. On the Templeman Library flat roof, we took the existing ballasted PV system off under our own method statement and risk assessment. Then we installed the new array in its place.
- Mounting to suit each roof. On the flat roofs, the panels sit in low east-west rows on Esdec ballasted mounting. The rows are held down by weight rather than fixings, so the roof membrane isn’t drilled. On the trapezoidal metal roof we used Renusol mounting.
- SolarEdge throughout. We sized the SolarEdge three-phase inverters to each building and fitted SolarEdge S1000 optimisers across all of the Trina Solar Vertex S+ 455 W panels.
- Neat DC cabling. DC solar cable runs on cable tray across the roofs to galvanised steel frames, where the inverters and isolators sit.
- Monitoring from day one. We set up a SolarEdge monitoring account for each system, working with the commercial gateway and the on-roof irradiance and module-temperature sensors.
- Safe lifting on a busy campus. Every pallet went up by telehandler onto temporary scaffold loading gantries. Banksmen, Heras fencing and fenced exclusion zones kept people well clear of the lifting areas.
- Out-of-hours work where needed. We did disconnections at night under temporary roof lighting, which kept daytime disruption on campus to a minimum.
- Ready for grid connection. We commissioned the DC side, ready for the network operator’s witness testing and grid connection. Others on the project handled the AC works and the grid connection application.
The result
The University of Kent now has 755 kWp of SolarEdge rooftop solar across seven buildings on its Canterbury campus: Kennedy, Jarman, Templeman Library, Colyer-Ferguson, the Sports Centre, Cornwallis and The Registry. The work ran in phases from spring to September 2025, and the campus stayed open throughout. Every system has SolarEdge module-level monitoring and MID generation metering, so the university’s facilities team can track output building by building, right down to individual panels.
This system has no battery storage. If you’re thinking about adding a battery on your own site, have a look at our commercial battery storage page.
Frequently asked questions
Can you install solar on a university campus while it stays open?
Yes. At the University of Kent we fitted seven buildings within the site’s permit system. We fenced off the lifting areas, used banksmen for every lift and did disconnection work at night where we needed to, so the campus kept running throughout.
Do you install solar outside Yorkshire?
Yes. We’re based in Beverley, East Yorkshire, and we travel nationally for bigger commercial jobs. The 755 kWp University of Kent project in Canterbury is one example. Tell us about your site, wherever it is, and we’ll let you know how we can help.
What happens to an old solar array when a roof gets a new system?
On the Templeman Library roof, the existing ballasted array came off first, under its own method statement and risk assessment. Then the new east-west system went in its place.
Why use SolarEdge optimisers on a campus job?
Optimisers let each panel work at its own best output. Shade from plant, rooflights or parapets on one panel doesn’t drag down the rest. They also give module-level monitoring, which suits facilities teams who want to see performance building by building.
Planning solar for a campus, a school or a multi-building site?
We’re a commercial solar installer based in Beverley, East Yorkshire. For larger projects we travel nationally, from single roofs to multi-building programmes on live sites. Tell us about your buildings and we’ll come back with a free bespoke quote. We also work with solar for schools and other education buildings.
