Solar PV to be installed across District Council buildings

Meeting at Newark Sports and Leisure Centre today, Mark Fazzini from Absolute Solar and Wind, who will be completing the installation works, presented the first panels to the centre where work is expected to begin this Spring. 

Adding to the current installation of solar PV panels at Castle House in Newark and expanding on the array at Vicar Water, the District Council will be adding new panels to:

• Newark Sports and Fitness Centre, Newark
• Dukeries Leisure Centre, Boughton
• The Beacon, Newark
• Vicar Water, Clipstone

After declaring a Climate Emergency in 2019, the District Council is doing all it can to reduce its carbon footprint.  Leisure centres, while vital for improving people’s health and wellbeing, are one of the main contributors to the Council’s carbon footprint, due to their higher energy needs. The 436 panels to be installed at Newark Sports and Fitness Centre are expected to generate in excess of 20% of the site’s total energy consumption.

The work is part of a number of new initiatives the District Council is implementing to reduce carbon emissions by 2,165 tCO2e, or, the equivalent of an average family diesel car driving 12.99 million miles*. The District Council smashed its target, hoping to plant 10,000 trees by 2023 but in fact hit a record 18,000 planted trees.  It is also deploying electric vehicles and carbon neutral forms of transport to its fleet.

Matt Finch, Director – Communities and Environment at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “We are committed to delivering our Climate Emergency Strategy Action Plan, which outlines lots of ways we will improve our energy efficiency and reach carbon neutrality.

“The installation of solar pv across a number of our buildings follows extensive feasibility works to understand costs involved, payback, carbon savings and practicalities and is a fantastic way to decrease our carbon footprint!”

Mark Fazzini, Business Development Director at Absolute Solar and Wind, said: “Via the tender process, Newark and Sherwood District Council has selected sites which are very suited to optimum Solar PV usage, and which have the capacity for long-term solar generation due to the modern nature of the buildings. We are very happy to be involved in this project, and to be able assist the proactive Council in realising their carbon reduction targets.”

To achieve the targets, and to ensure ongoing transparency, the Council will be recording its carbon footprint on an annual basis so that progress can be measured and monitored.

If you are thinking of installing Solar Panels, or have recently had them fitted, the National Energy Action (NEA) website provides useful information that could help you better understand and maximise the benefits of having these.

* This figure is derived from the NSDC Climate Emergency strategy published September 2020, ‘One tonne of CO2e (tCO2e) is the equivalent to the average emissions of one passenger on a return-flight from Paris to New York or driving 6000 km in a diesel car.’