London Stadium to Generate Power Via Solar Panels Starting 2024

The outdoor stadium in London is planning to create power via solar panels in the next two years. 

The London Stadium —2012 Olympics stadium, now home to West Ham United soccer team — is set to have solar panels installed to generate its own energy. The stadium will be wrapped in a solar membrane to reduce carbon emissions, BBC.com reported this weekend. 

The solar-panel project is expected to cost £4 million over the first two years, but after five years, it would pay for itself, the BBC reported. According to planning documents, the work could start on the east London site later this year.

The building could then start generating energy by end of 2024, according to the stadium's owner, the London Legacy Development Corp., a body set up after the 2012 Games to manage the development of the area around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford.

A contract for the project's installation said that the "key driver" for the project was to significantly reduce carbon emissions, in line with the mayor of London's commitment to turn London into a "zero carbon" city by 2030.

The mayor of London praised the endeavor, and City Hall has reportedly agreed to contribute £45,000 toward a feasibility study and business case for the project.

LLDC's latest budget documents state the new technology could generate roughly 3 million kilowatts of power annually.

"It's great to see such an iconic building, the scene for so much national pride, leading us into our greener future," senior policy advisor at the environmental think tank Green Alliance Stuart Dossett said. "Solar can be built quickly to produce cheap and clean energy to power our buildings. The sooner we expand the use of renewables, the sooner we can slash bills and carbon emissions."