Published on Monday, Jan 30 2012 by David Sanderson
The largest
solar panel installation to date for the National Trust has recently been completed.
Photovoltaic panels were installed at an 18th-century Grade 1 listed National Trust property in Llanerchaeron, Ceredigion. The solar panel installation at the villa, which was built in the 1790s, is expected to generate up to half of the building’s electricity.
Clearly, due to the historic nature of the building any solar panel installation would have to remain in keeping with the style and appearance of the property so as to complement the surroundings. In order to meet this requirement the solar panel installation firm used ground-mounted
photovoltaic cells around the grounds of the property.
The installation was completed as part of the National Trust’s pledge to cut its reliance on fossil fuels by half over the next eight years. It has a target of cutting carbon emissions from energy for heat and electricity by 45 per cent. This would top the Government’s target of a 34 per cent reduction by 2020.
As well as installing
solar panels, the National Trust has also committed to improve its environmental performance by cutting energy and water use and taking steps to generate its own energy.
In 2010 the second-largest installation of photovoltaic cells on a historic building was completed. The solar panels were fitted to the roof of the National Trust's carriage museum at Arlington Court, near Barnstaple in Devon.
It is expected that the 113m2 installation will generate as much as 6.3MWh of energy each year. This would equate to an annual saving of £600 on the museum’s annual electricity bill. In addition the museum expects to generate up to £2,270 a year by selling excess energy back to the National Grid.
The project was funded by sales of National Trust Green Energy, which is supplied by the charity's energy partner, npower, and raises money to support low and zero carbon energy-savings projects at Trust properties. To date over 25 National Trust properties have benefited from the scheme.
Last year the National Trust spoke out publicly against Government proposals to cut subsidies for household solar panels. In a joint letter with the Church of England, the National Trust warned that “sudden lurches in policy and support send a bad signal” and called for community projects to be protected.
Last week the Government lost to the solar panels industry in the latest round of the battle over plans to cut subsidies for homeowners who invest in solar panel installations.
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne’s bid to overturn a ruling at the Court of Appeal failed. He was appealing a decision which found that the Government’s plans are unlawful. The Government proposes to reduce feed-in tariff subsidies (FITs), which are payments made to those who generate electricity using solar energy, for any solar panel installations which were completed after 12 December 2011.
The Government had proposed cutting the feed-in tariff to 21p per kilowatt hour from December but this will not now take effect thanks to the court ruling. Judges ruled that this would be unlawful because the consultation on the reduced subsidies was still ongoing on 12 December – it still had 11 days to run.
To find out more about how solar panels work and how they could work as an investment for your home or business, go to the
EnergySaving Trust website.
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