The £1.1 million scheme involved the installation of more than 3,000 PV panels on the roofs of 20 schools and seven Wokingham Borough Council properties including a library, youth centre, neighbourhood centre plus community and children’s centres.
Solarlec reports that the entire project was successfully completed in just six weeks in time for the Feed-in-Tariff deadline of July 31st, enabling Wokingham Borough Council to benefit from the higher tariff rates. Under this higher rate Feed-in-Tariff, it is anticipated that the council will recoup the costs of the initial installation within approximately ten years, whilst also benefiting from the FiT income during the next ten years.
Cllr Angus Ross, executive member for the environment at Wokingham Borough Council, said: “I’m thrilled that we had the opportunity to install these panels to show our green credentials but also to make cost savings for many of our schools and other community buildings.
“The planning and installation went well and was completed on time. We will monitor the success to ensure the benefits are realised and also see if such invest to save programmes can be made for other council sites across the borough.”
Scott Leighton from SolarTech added: “We are delighted to have been involved in this flagship project for Wokingham Borough Council. Projects such as these clearly demonstrate the obvious benefits of solar PV in terms of carbon reduction, energy efficiencies and their capability to generate long term cost savings for the community.”