The Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park, has gone solar, but not PV.

The hotel has become the first in the UK to install solar thermal tech from Naked Energy to decarbonise its hot water supply with 120 solar collectors on the roof which will allow the building to generate over 39,000 kWh of its own renewable heat to provide hot water for the hotel’s 181 luxury guest rooms and suites.

The project uses Naked Energy’s VirtuHOT collectors that operate at the grid edge, directly heating water. Its modular, high-density design is claimed to deliver three times the greenhouse gas reduction per square metre compared to conventional solar PV panels.

Christophe Williams, CEO of Naked Energy, said: "The need to decarbonise heat is often overlooked in conversations about the UK’s net-zero transition. This project is an exciting milestone for solar heat in the UK, and we hope other hoteliers will follow Mandarin Oriental’s lead in embracing renewable solutions and reducing their reliance on fossil fuels."

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