Page last updated at 11:55 GMT, Wednesday, December 21 2011

Council completes three more Solar Energy schemes

Eastleigh Borough Council has installed photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on three more of its buildings as it continues its commitment to tackling climate change. The Council acted quickly to install the schemes and take advantage of the Government’s Feed in Tariff scheme (FIT’s) before the deadline of 12 December when the feed-in tariff scheme or subsidy paid for solar panels installations effectively reduced by half.

The Council has successfully installed PV solar panels on Fleming Park Bowls Pavilion, Kingfisher Barn at Itchen Valley Country Park, West End and the Energy Building on Leigh Road, Eastleigh that will directly provide the buildings with green or sustainable electricity.   

Together, these three schemes will generate an amount of electricity that could supply around four average homes for a year and also bring in an annual income of around £5000.  They will also save an estimated 5.72 tonnes of CO2 which as a visual image would be equivalent to a row six 3 bedroom houses.

Cabinet Lead for the Environment Cllr Louise Bloom said “This is great news for our residents and the environment as we continue to generate electricity from a sustainable source to generate income and reduce our CO2 emissions.   She added ”The industry was only given six weeks to adapt to the reduction in subsidy by the government and as a Council we acted speedily to ensure these three schemes were in place to take advantage of the FIT scheme when many other councils have failed to do so.” 

The Council has already installed 288 PV solar panels on the roof of Fleming Park Leisure Centre. Since its installation on the 31 July 2011 it has generated almost 22,000kWh of electricity which is enough to power round six family homes for a year and avoided over 15 tonnes of Co2 emissions.

A key benefit of this scheme has been the generation of new income from both the Feed in Tariff and through the sale of any surplus electricity back to the national grid so far this has provided the Council with over £8200 of income.
 
The Council is always interested in opportunities either to work in partnership or share our knowledge and experience. If you would like support for a renewable project or if you are interested in finding out more, then please visit our Solar Energy web pages. www.eastleigh.gov.uk/solarenergy

Cllr Louise Bloom (left) Cllr Keith House and Project Manager 
Jeb Farrah celebrate the installation of PV Solar panel
 on the 'Energy' building in Eastleigh