Flintshire County Council is committed to reducing their carbon footprint and their energy costs. As part of this commitment they have installed a number of renewable energy systems on schools throughout the region.
Glan Aber School was extremely keen to reduce it’s carbon footprint and energy costs and capitalise on the Feed-in Tariff scheme. They therefore decided to install a 3.87kW solar PV system, to maximise the Feed-in Tariffs under the 4kW limit of 41.3 pence/kWh of energy produced.
The system is made up of 18 Sungrid solar panels and a SMA Sunny Boy 3300 inverter. Sungrid panels were chosen for their superior build quality and high performance levels for their cost. They are also the market leader for their warranties with a 10 year product and 25 year performance warranty. Glan Aber School’s 3.87kW system will generate approximately 3,207kWh per year which will earn them around £1,324 per year in Feed-in Tariffs.
As well as the Feed-in Tariff payments, Glan Aber School will save around £308 per year from their electricity bills and generate around £19 for exporting their excess electricity back to the grid.
This gives them an approximate income/saving of £1,651 per year which gives a payback time of less than 11 years for the system. They will also save around 1,744 kg of CO2 per year by generating their own electricity.
Eco Environments also designed a bespoke monitoring display which is situated in the school’s reception. This displays the real time generation of the system and can be viewed on the school’s new website. This solar array and monitoring display acts as a fantastic learning tool for Glan Aber’s students who are able to learn about renewable energy generation first-hand from their very own working system. The system is able to demonstrate to the students how they can build a sustainable future.