Sheep help to keep grass trimmed at East Yorkshire solar farm

The solar farm generates all the hospital's daytime electricity needs

A solar farm that powers an East Yorkshire hospital has brought in sheep to trim the grass around the panels.

The 11,000 panels next to Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham produce enough electricity to power the whole site during the day.

After researching ways of cutting the grass the hospital approached local shepherds and their flock of 51 sheep.

Alex Best from Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said "the idea came about by chance".

"We approached a number of landscapers for ideas on how we could manage the grass cutting, both mechanically and sustainably, and this felt like the perfect solution; keeping the grass down naturally and reducing our carbon footprint," he said.

"It ties in perfectly with our ethos of sustainability and supporting our local community, and the costs involved are extremely competitive at just one sixth of what it would cost us to cut the grass mechanically."

'Really happy'

Shepherd Grant Bailey said the animals were secured in the field with plenty of space to roam and the cables and panels were safely out of the sheep's way.

"We knew of the solar field but hadn't actually thought about it as an option," he said. "Now the sheep are here, they seem really happy and it's great to have found a solution to both our needs without having to have looked outside the village."

The £4.2m grant-funded scheme opened earlier this year and generates about 26MWh per day, the equivalent to the average daily energy needs of 3,250 UK households.

It is part of the trust's plan to be carbon-neutral by 2030.