Lanesend Primary School on Love Lane in Cowes is championing the use of renewable solar power to help manage its future energy costs and bring educational opportunities to its pupils, teachers and community.
This Easter holiday, an installation of over 130 solar panels onto the roofs at Lanesend Primary, will see the school generating up to 50kWp of clean renewable energy.
Delivered through Solar for Schools Programme
The solar installation – delivered through the Solar for Schools Programme – is expected to replace over 30 per cent of the electricity currently used by the school.
The system will also reduce the school’s carbon footprint by an impressive 10 tonnes of CO2 a year.
£50,000 investment at no cost to the school
The £50,000 investment in solar panels will be installed under the Solar for Schools Programme, at no cost to the school or Trust, and will be managed and maintained by Solar for Schools at no cost to the school or Trust in the future.
The school will benefit from a fixed electricity price that will only go up by inflation and so protect the proportion of electricity generated from the sun from mains energy electricity price rises in the future.
Real-time data
Real-time data from the solar panel installation will be available to the school, helping it to gain greater understanding of its electricity use and to see what power the panels are generating.
This data can also be downloaded to provide practical, real-life exercises for the teachers at Lanesend to use with the children, linking the panels on the roof with the curriculum in the classroom.
The programme’s classroom resources and workshops will help the pupils of Lanesend Primary to learn about renewable power and its role in helping to reduce the effects of climate change.
Schrimpff: Delivering long-term benefits so we can all live more sustainably
Solar for Schools director and founder Robert Schrimpff said,
“Our programme anchors a long-term partnership between ourselves and the schools. Many schools do not have capital to invest and we aim to find funding so we can give them a system at no extra cost to them so we can deliver long-term benefits and all live more sustainably.
“For us it is all about giving schools an opportunity to reap the benefits of solar power, to help pupils learn about renewable energy while reducing the schools’ energy bills and carbon footprint at the same time.”
Hunter: An obvious way for schools to create clean energy and save money
Rob Hunter, who managed to partner Lanesend school with Solar for school said,
“This has always seemed like an obvious way for schools to create clean energy and save money in these hard times.
“Hopefully this will open the gateway for other schools on the Island to get the same for their school.”
Anybody interested in applying, contact SolarforSchools.co.uk.
