The first stage of the Poole Housing Partnership (PHP) solar program is now underway, with 55 panels now fitted on top of a block of council-owned maisonettes. Manufactured by Romag and installed by local firm Save Energy, the panels will help Poole residents to save money on their annual electricity bills as well as cutting the town’s carbon emissions.
The Partnership selected Romag technology as it is both British made, and suited to windy conditions. In future over 1,000 council housing roofs in the Borough of Poole will be fitted with the technology. Residents can monitor how much electricity is being generated whilst seeing how much carbon is being saved in the process. To date, a ton of carbon has already been saved.
PHP funded this stage of the project itself, while the second stage will benefit from a loan of £10 million, following Poole Council approval back in April. Once the capital has been repaid through the feed-in tariff, PHP anticipates a healthy surplus which will be used to finance other renewable energy and water-saving projects that will benefit other council residents whose homes are not suitable for this scheme.
Director of Save Energy, Steve Randall, says he is delighted to be partnered with PHP for this pilot project and is proud to say that not only are the solar panels British-made but the work was carried out by a local firm, employing over 20 people from the area.