The Tank Museum in Dorset has installed over 200 solar photovoltaic panels on one of its exhibition halls to provide a major boost to the museum’s environmental credentials.
The solar project was developed by Farm Power Ltd in partnership with the Tank Museum. Energy efficiency solutions company, Anesco, designed and installed the system.
Tank Museum Facilities Manager, Roy Hicks, said: “The panels cover 90 percent of the roof space above one of our exhibition halls. It is modest enough in character not to be unsightly, whilst ensuring that the Museum is now generating 10 percent of its electricity needs from a renewable source that is sunlight.
“This is a significant part of our new environmental policy, which also includes power saving and widespread recycling of waste materials.”
The panels are expected to generate 47,000kWh of electricity – around 20 times the combined electricity consumption of the average household – resulting in CO2 savings in excess of 20 tonnes per year.
Mark Simon of Farm Power said: “Government is encouraging both domestic and commercial organisations towards developing renewable generation where the technology is both viable and economic – we must do this at the same time as minimising the social and environmental impacts.
“This project represents a milestone in that it is the first independently financed renewable energy project on Ministry of Defence (MOD) buildings. The MOD has been hugely supportive of this initiative and we hope it will lead to many more schemes to assist government organisations meet their carbon reduction commitments.”
The project had to be fast-tracked after Government’s announcement that the feed-in tariff for installing solar panels would be cut by over 50 percent from December 12. In response, Anesco were able to design, procure and install the project in less than five weeks.