Things are looking up!

“A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step,” says the Chinese proverb.

And in a similar vein, the first few of a planned 63,000 solar panels have been put into place at the Port of Liverpool. The first steps in our project with the Peel Ports Group where we are installing the UK's largest roof mounted solar system, and supporting them on their net zero journey by 2040.

The 63,000 panels are being installed across 26 buildings at the Merseyside port, with the first now in place on the newly constructed 240,000 square foot Alexandra Dock warehouse.

Expected to be complete mid-2026, these panels will generate up to 31MW of renewable energy, around 25% of the Port’s annual electricity needs – and equivalent to the needs of more than 10,000 average UK homes.

And we’re not finished there. The second stage will replace the five existing wind turbines with four new, and more efficient, ones which will ultimately allow the port to operate entirely off renewable energy generated on site.

And this isn’t E.ON’s only project of such scale and ambition. Our colleagues in Hungary have just signed an agreement at the new BMW factory in Debrecen, in the north east of the country.

A solar park as large as 71 football pitches – and with a capacity of almost 45MW – will be installed on the roofs and facades of factory buildings as well as on land spreading across 500,000 square metres.

Ambitious projects like these will revolutionise the way we generate and use energy across Europe, while helping industry and infrastructure to become more sustainable and move to greener electrified economy.

Both projects – and our many others like them – demonstrate how sustainable solutions can help take a massive step towards environmental targets which will be crucial if we are to meet net-zero ambitions.