Published on Wednesday, Jan 11 2012 by John Woods
A landmark contract could see an investment of up to £200 million in
solar panels for Peterborough.
Peterborough City Council is reportedly set to sign the contract with a solar panel firm for them to install photovoltaic (PV) panels at sites across the city and further afield. Peterborough Today reports that the move is a step towards the city’s ambition to be the UK’s “environment capital”.
The four-year contract is set to begin this month and if it gets underway on schedule could see many solar panels being installed before April when the Government’s payments for solar energy will decrease. The Government’s move to reduce feed-in tariff payments for solar energy installations has been widely criticised by many in the industry and beyond. They argue jobs will be lost and that it goes against the drive to generate more energy from renewable sources.
No particular sites for the solar panels in Peterborough have been named yet but many expect schools, social housing and council property to take precedence for the installations. Some say that larger ‘solar energy farms’ may also be set up on empty land.
If all Peterborough’s schools had solar panels installed, it would represent an investment of around £10 million, according to estimates. There are currently around 65 primary and secondary schools in the city.
Solar panels are best placed on sites which have a strong enough roof and which face due south. Direct sunlight isn’t always required to generate electricity and the solar panels will still work on cloudy days. However, shading from trees, chimneys and tree aerials should be avoided.
David Seaton, Peterborough councillor and cabinet member for resources, is quoted as saying that the investment scheme will mainly be paid for through loans which will be repaid over the next 25 years. However, he stressed that solar panels will only be installed in places where the council believes a profit will be generated.
The solar schemes will reduce the cost of heating and electricity in buildings and could also generate income when excess energy is sold back to the National Grid.
Peterborough Today quotes Mr Seaton as saying, “I think it is becoming increasingly difficult to deliver council services within the reduced budgets so we need to look at other ways of bringing in money to the council to pay for these services.
“But we are going to be cautious and only spend money if we are sure we can pay back that capital investment. However, this could absolutely be a great step forward in our environment capital aspirations and both myself and environment capital cabinet member Samantha Dalton are very excited about this.”
The council has already made moves to reap the benefits of solar panels, having installed them at a former commercial unit in Westwood in the city.
To find out more about
how solar panels work and the savings that can be made through them, go to the
EnergySaving Trust website.
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