Repowering of landmark Solar Pyramid close to Edinburgh hailed huge success

The iconic Solar Pyramid, located on Bilston Glen Industrial Estate in Loanhead, houses the headquarters of engineering and land surveying firm Survey Solutions Group.

The distinctive solar panels were originally installed in 2012 and the facility has now been upgraded to improve safety, monitoring, shading resilience and EV integration. Musselburgh-based sustainable energy specialist Gensource carried out a complex refurbishing project last summer, which included the installation of a “state-of-the-art” system featuring inverters, panel optimisers and integration with metering, EV chargers and fire alarm panels.

A year on and the new system is said to have reduced Survey Solutions’ energy bills by nearly 50 per cent, with further reductions set to follow in the coming years.

Neill Lochhead, general manager of Survey Solutions Group, said: “The Solar Pyramid has always been an iconic part of our business and something we are extremely proud of, so maintaining its distinctive appearance was a key priority for us.

“The upgrade has delivered on that while also providing a major boost to the business. We were already benefiting from lower energy bills, but the new system is generating significantly more clean energy and delivering even greater savings.”

Gensource managing director Josh King added: “It was a complex project for us. It’s an iconic feature on the local landscape and our full redesign preserved its appearance while making it a safer, smarter and future-ready energy asset. Whilst this was by no means our biggest project, it was certainly a unique one given the shape of the building, bespoke components and its complex nature.”