The Nottingham Emmanuel School in West Bridgford is thought to have more solar panels than any other school in the country.
The solar panels were installed on five roofs over the summer holidays and were switched on at the start of the autumn term.
The panels will generate up to 250kw of electricity per year to power the school’s classrooms – enough electricity to power the equivalent of 83 homes for a year. They are expected to save the school hundreds of thousands of pounds on energy bills over the next 20 years.
The installation was funded by the government and the Energy Efficiency Financing Scheme, which was set up by Siemens and the Carbon Trust. The work was carried out by Solarlec, a national renewable energy company that supplies solar panels and biomass boilers.
“We expect the solar panel installation to contribute 25 per cent of the school’s energy needs over the next year,” said Barry Willing, the school’s facilities manager.
“The panels are all independently monitored and from my control point I can see the individual performance of each panel.
“They are a fantastic addition to our efforts to control energy and we can already see the benefits in terms of self-generated energy to power the school.”
The school, which has more than 1,000 students and 150 staff, prides itself on being environmentally friendly. It has installed water butts to collect rainwater for the toilets and runs a regular recycling scheme.
“We are passionate about ensuring that Emmanuel plays its part in conserving the Earth’s natural resources and over the past year staff and students have been exploring the most eco-friendly solar energy schemes,” said school principal Derek Hobbs.
“We recognise that renewable sources are playing an increasingly important part in serving the energy needs of our country and world.
“The system will pay for itself by generating over a quarter of our electricity requirements, bringing cost savings to the school for more than 20 years and perhaps more importantly, reducing our carbon footprint.”