How to work with animals and… solar panels: our work at Edinburgh Zoo

Delivering large-scale projects involves many moving parts with often unforeseen surprises and that’s just what Colin Heggie, Project Delivery Manager at E.ON UK, recently experienced while leading on the installation of the UK’s largest zoo-based solar meadow at Edinburgh Zoo.

We recently caught up with Colin to find out more about this exciting project and the benefits it’s delivering for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) at Edinburgh Zoo.

What is your role?

I’m a Project Delivery Manager and my role predominately focuses on the construction and delivery section of project management. This means I consult on the feasibility of projects in the design phase and manage all aspects of the project during installation, including our E.ON teams and subcontractors, budgets, health and safety and deadlines. I basically ensure everything comes together to deliver a high-quality project for the client, on time and within budget.

All the projects I work on are about helping to make organisations and communities across the UK more sustainable by installing renewable energy solutions, whether that’s a large solar array or heat pumps in a factory somewhere.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Every day is different. But most days, you'll find me on site on whichever project I’m working on. I’m often working across multiple projects at one time though, so it’s about managing and sharing my time across them all. It can be anywhere across the country: I’ve got projects in the Isle of Skye, Leeds and I’m supporting on the Peel Ports project in Liverpool too.

My-day-to-day on site involves working with the project’s Site Manager to ensure everything is running as it should, attending meetings with clients, helping with daily briefings and reviewing any issues with the installation. That last one is really key. When things aren’t going quite to plan, I’m responsible for managing all the individual parts such as any technical changes, an updated risk review and how this will impact the installation going forward to ensure we still deliver what we’ve promised.

Can you tell us a bit about the project at Edinburgh Zoo?

We recently finished installing the UK’s biggest zoo-based solar meadow in one of the fields on Edinburgh Zoo. As Project Delivery Manager, I oversaw the installation, including the management of various issues, and moved it into the operational phase when it went live last year.

The solar panels directly connect to the Zoo’s internal energy network and will supply roughly 25% of their annual electricity needs across the entire site. This means it can be used to power their animal habitats, enclosures and research facility. It’ll go wherever it’s needed from a demand point of view and the solar electricity will take priority, as long as there’s solar available which will ultimately lower their energy bills which is essential for a charity.

The other main benefit is cardon reduction. RZSS are working to reduce their carbon footprint and become more sustainable as an organisation and the solar meadow will help them do just that – it’s helping to make energy both more affordable and more sustainable for Edinburgh Zoo.

What have been your highlights while working on the solar meadow at Edinburgh Zoo?

Getting up close with the animals, especially the armadillo, during our promotion of the installation was particularly special. It was something a little bit different and was a great opportunity to show the work that we do in a way that captures people’s interest. It’s not a solar field in the middle of nowhere. It’s a solar meadow in one of the biggest tourist attractions in Scotland which means something when it comes to visibility.

It was also great being close to the general public and having people ask about solar energy because they were thinking about getting solar panels on their roof. Even something as simple as that, it gave me an opportunity to talk to people I wouldn’t normally come across in this job about what we’re trying to achieve as we lead the energy transition to a clean, renewable future.

You mention getting up close with the animals, do you have a favourite animal at Edinburgh Zoo?

I really appreciated the giraffes that are housed directly across from the solar meadow because every morning they would be out to feed before the public came in and we would have five very curious giraffes watching us install the solar panels. I suppose it’s only natural, we’re moving these big solar panels around wearing high vis so there was a natural, but cautious, curiosity from the giraffes.

One giraffe in particular, Gerald, was very interested in the installation and would stay out longer than the others. It was a running joke with the animal handlers that he was my site foreman, making sure I was doing my job properly.

Gerald was actually a big motivating factor because I didn’t want to disappoint him when he’d been watching the installation more than anyone else.

What unique challenges did this project raise, and how did you overcome them?

This project had very specific planning considerations due to Edinburgh Zoo being an Archaeological Heritage site. We had an archaeologist present while we were digging which slowed us down dramatically. When there’s a potential of uncovering something of historical significance, you can’t just dig down as deep as you possibly can. Instead, you need to carefully scrape the top level of soil while the archaeologist is constantly reviewing what you’re doing. Unfortunately, we didn’t find anything interesting.

Another challenge which wasn’t raised at the outset related to an unusual form of stakeholder management: noise and pandas. During the installation, Edinburgh Zoo was home to two giant pandas and the animal handlers raised concerns about the health of the pandas and their skittishness to loud noises. At the start of construction, we needed to undertake rock breaking and drilling which does generate a lot of noise.

To ensure our activity wouldn’t endanger the animals, I employed an acoustician, basically a noise specialist, to test noise generation and how the sound travelled.

The acoustician tested the different levels of noise expected throughout the drilling phase, at different points around the zoo: from right at the source to where the pandas were located. This enabled us to highlight our activity would remain in the tolerance of noise the animal handlers were comfortable with, and we also installed acoustic barriers around the noise generating work too. This ultimately meant we got the green light to continue with the project and the pandas remained safe and happy.

If you had to describe what working on the solar meadow at Edinburgh Zoo is like in three words, what would they be?

Educational, exciting and unique.

What will you be working on next?

I’ve just started working on our Resilience as a Service (RaaS) project up on the Isle of Skye aimed at improving energy resilience in some of the most remote areas of the UK. It’s a research and development project in partnership with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution and Costain for a battery solution that will very much be a first of its kind.

Across E.ON, we’re committed to making homes, businesses and entire communities up and down the UK become more sustainable. From delivering energy efficiency upgrades for thousands of homes to our Strategic Energy Partnership with Coventry City Council powering a cleaner, greener, more sustainable future in Coventry.