Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm is a national award-winning animal park and education centre based in Wraxall, North Somerset, 6 miles from the centre of Bristol.

The multi award-winning tourist attraction is committed to protecting the local environment and future-proofing the animal park to reduce their carbon impact. Over the years, the zoo has won numerous sustainability awards and holds Gold in the internationally recognised Green Tourism Business Scheme.

As a sustainable and green business, the zoo is dedicated to generating as much of their own energy as possible, and to date almost half of their energy comes from renewable resources.

The zoo contacted Solarsense for advice whilst exploring solar as a way to further reduce their carbon impact. Their decision to install more solar panels was fast tracked, once it became clear that the electricity supply in one area of the zoo was becoming insufficient for their daytime demand. In order to match this increased demand, a bigger transformer and cable from the mains supply would have to be installed, at a cost of nearly half of the price to install a new solar PV system.

The new 108-panel solar PV system installed for Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm was split across three animal enclosures; the tiger house, tapir house and tortoise house. The combined system will generate more than 30,000kW hours of free, clean electricity whilst avoiding a further 18,236kg of carbon emissions each year.

As well as improving the zoo’s sustainability credentials and reducing their running costs, the new solar panel arrays are visible on-site and coincide with their aim to educate their visitors in the importance of green tourism and teach the next generation to become more sustainable and care for the natural world.

A specialist team from Solarsense installed the 29.16kWp solar PV system in less than a week with minimal disruption to the busy tourist attraction. Anthony Bush, Owner and CEO for Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm said:

“Solarsense proved excellent providers and fitted the three arrays on our tiger house, tapir house and giant tortoise house, quickly and efficiently. Our own electrician found them professional to deal with.”

With high electricity demand during the day, zoos are an ideal match for renewable energy and solar panel installations. On top of the electricity needed to power their visitor attractions, café and veterinary department, a typical zoo consumes a vast amount of energy for lighting and heating their animal enclosures. Whilst a zoo can’t turn off the heating for their reptile enclosure for example, they can ensure the energy used is as clean, economical and sustainable as possible.

System details

Technology: Solar PV

System size: 29.16kWp

Solar panel model: JA Solar 270W

No. of solar modules: 108

Inverter model: Fronius

Estimated annual output: 30,393kWh

Estimated annual CO2 savings: 18,326kg

Case Study

Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm – Solar PV Case Study – Solarsense UK

Images