West Sussex schools sign up to join the solar revolution

West Sussex schools are looking to the future and generating their own electricity to reduce running costs and cut carbon emissions.
Louise Goldsmith, leader of West Sussex County Council, and Pieter Montyn, local member for The Witterings, with pupils from East Wittering Community Primary SchoolLouise Goldsmith, leader of West Sussex County Council, and Pieter Montyn, local member for The Witterings, with pupils from East Wittering Community Primary School
Louise Goldsmith, leader of West Sussex County Council, and Pieter Montyn, local member for The Witterings, with pupils from East Wittering Community Primary School

East Wittering Community Primary School, Wisborough Green Primary School and Bourne Community College in Emsworth are three of several schools to have joined forces with Your Energy Sussex to install solar panels on their roof space.

The panels generate cheap, low-carbon electricity for the school to use during the day, when energy demand is at its highest.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Susan Parker, head teacher at East Wittering Community Primary School, said: “The opportunity was too good for the school to pass up and we are delighted that we did it.

“The system is clean and effective and will have a marked impact on the amount of energy that we pay for from our usual energy supplier.

“It’s also a great example to our children of how science and technology can be applied in a really practical way. I am sure that they will learn a lot from the project.”

Schools with the largest 30kW systems can reduce their energy bills by up to £6,000 per year and cut their annual carbon emissions by up to 40 tonnes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Louise Goldsmith, leader of West Sussex County Council, said: “The solar panels are already proving to be a shrewd investment for several schools which, by their nature, tend to use quite a lot of energy during the day when the sun is shining. I look forward to seeing more schools working with Your Energy Sussex in the future.”

The solar panels have been funded by Your Energy Sussex and installed by Carillion. The school buys the electricity at a discounted rate and the cost of the installation is paid back by income generated through feed-in tariffs.

The current schools project was not affected by the government’s reduction in solar feed-in tariffs earlier this year, because the installations were completed and registered before the changes took effect.

Other schools taking part in the solar project include Manor Green Primary School and Manor Green College in Crawley, Leechpool Primary School in Horsham and Sackville School in East Grinstead.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As part of this project, Your Energy Sussex has also provided each school with a specially-designed curriculum package with a broad range of learning resources to help teachers to design lessons about renewable energy and sustainability.

Your Energy Sussex, a council-led partnership that works with residents and businesses to promote energy saving and renewable energy, is exploring how it can support schools to save energy and reduce their bills within the new framework.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 – Make our website your homepage

2 – Like our Facebook pages

3 – Follow us on Twitter

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

4 – Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

Sussex Newspapers – always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.

Related topics: