East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust has installed solar at five of its control centres in an attempt to reduce costs.
Solar arrays consisting of 200 Conergy modules totalling 50kW have been installed at the centres in Norwich, Luton, Melbourne and Welwyn Garden City.
The energy intesive centres operate 24-hours a day, co-ordinating over 500,000 call-outs a year. The new solar arrays will allow the Trust to generate 195,000kWh of electricity a year, delivering cost savings and revenues of £42,000 a year for the next 20 years.
The solar initative will pay back within the first five years of the scheme and is set to slash 103 tonnes of carbon of the Trust’s carbon footprint in addition to generating £80,000 over the lifetime of the project.
Andy Sanders, head of estates at East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust said that the solar scheme was “an excellent investment for the Trust, which will enable use to release finances to support our frontline emergency service.”
Photon Energy will be undertaking the installation of the solar arrays. Jonathan Bates, Photon’s managing director said: “East of England Ambulance Service should be applauded for looking after the interests of patients and taxpayers by having the foresight to invest in order to save. The government says average domestic electricity prices soared 45% from 2006 to 2012. Projects like this are the perfect way to hedge against even steeper price hikes in the future.”
Robert Goss, managing director, Conergy UK added: “The health service has thousands of acres of rooftop which are currently going unused. Solar means NHS organisations can cut their energy bills and benefit from new revenue streams, safeguarding money for frontline services. The rest of the NHS, from Inverness to Kent, should follow leaders like the East of England Ambulance Service Trust.”