Hospitals: Renewable Energy
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2025 to Question 41611 on Hospitals: Renewable Energy, what sites comprise the NHS acute estate.
Answered by Karin Smyth
Site data for the National Health Service is published in the annual Estates Return Information Collection (ERIC). The latest data set is from 2023/24, and is available at the following link:
The data set reports 9,725 sites in total. With regard to sites providing acute services, the most recent data shows 222 general acute hospital sites, 58 specialist, or acute only, hospitals, as well as 105 sites providing mixed services.
All NHS trusts were invited to submit projects for solar funding in our partnership with Great British Energy. NHS England received an overwhelmingly positive response, with over 300 bids that could potentially have been taken forward. The majority of bids were from acute trusts, where consumption profiles and space availability mean solar projects can offer particular value. Regrettably, funding limitations and the overwhelming response to the scheme meant many projects offering significant value missed out on this occasion. We will continue to work with NHS England and our partners across the Government to explore further funding opportunities.
The successful projects were announced on 21 March 2025, and include a range of NHS sites. The list is publicly available at the following link:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67dd2e0370323a45fe6a6f0e/gbe-nhs-solar-projects.csv
It is estimated that these projects will deliver an additional 55 million kilo watt hours (kwh) in annual generation, which is approximately three times the 17.7 million kwh reported in ERIC in 2023/4.
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