Lewes District Council’s Wave Leisure centre is a particularly high user of energy; as such, the council was keen to investigate ways in which it could reduce the centre’s electricity bills. The potential of solar particularly interested the Council, who approached Southern Solar about the possibility of installing a solar array on the south-facing roof of the centre. Not only would a solar array help slash energy bills, it would also help the Council significantly reduce its carbon footprint, as well as benefit from the associated feed-in tariff payments.
After weighing up the options, the council settled on installing a 43.35kWp array on the leisure centre’s roof. Southern Solar estimates that the 184 installed solar panels will help curb the emission of over 25 tonnes of CO2 a year.
Lewes District Council was so impressed with the solar array at the Wave Leisure centre that it commissioned a second 26.35kWp array at the council-owned Seaford Downs Leisure centre. The second array is predicted to slash an extra 14 tonnes of CO2 off the council’s annual footprint – taking the total solar savings each year to an impressive 38.67 tonnes of CO2 for the lifetime of the system.
The two systems were installed just in time to benefit from a feed-in tariff rate of 32.0p/kWh. Southern Solar estimates that the systems will pay for themselves in less than ten years, and provide around £20,000 of valuable income for the council over the next 25 years.