Solar Panels Are Great News for Schools, Say Wool Pupils

Pupils and teachers alike have welcomed in the summer with the installation of a total of 48 solar panels on the roofs of their three schools in Wool and Bovington, in Dorset.

Good Energy funded the three solar installation projects – and a similar installation for the nearby D'Urberville community hall – as a way of saying 'thank you' to the area for hosting Woolbridge Solar farm, the company's first-ever solar farm development. The Woolbridge site was completed last month (June) and has already started generating electricity.

“We take our duty as a responsible developer really seriously,” explained Good Energy's Hugo House.

“Wherever we're involved in building green energy projects like this, we always look for ways to deliver meaningful benefits to the local community and encourage it to be part of our renewable energy journey.

“So it's great that we've been able to work with three schools and the local community centre to install solar panels. These will not only help provide power for each organisation, they'll also provide an additional income as they will be paid for every unit of electricity they generate.”

He added: “For the schools, this is a great way of bring science and the big debate about energy into the classroom, as children can discover first-hand how electricity is produced.”

Wool Church of England VA primary school is one of three local schools to have benefited from the installation of solar panels courtesy of 100% renewable electricity company Good Energy.

The headteacher at Wool CE VA school, Mrs Lesley Paxton-Khanal, said: “We are thrilled to have been supplied solar panels by Good Energy. Our school recently became a primary school as part of the Purbeck re-organisation and as a result, we had a year of building works to make our school more 'fit for purpose'.

“As a small village school there is never any money spare, so we jumped at the chance to have solar panels fitted. Having solar panels is totally in keeping with our school's 'green' approach and as an Eco School, this adds a new dimension to our teaching of renewable energy.

“This, coupled with the future savings to be made on our energy bills, leads us to say a big THANK YOU! to Good Energy.”

It is estimated that the panels installed at the school will generate around 3,560kWh of electricity each year, saving several hundred pounds in energy costs and saving the equivalent of around 2,000kg of CO2..

“This means the school can generate cleaner, greener electricity as well as saving money,” said Hugo.

The two other schools which have also benefited from the installation of solar panels are Bovington Primary School and St Mary and St Joseph's Primary School.

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Notes to Editors:

Good Energy's new solar farm at Tout Hill, near Wool, started generating electricity for the first time in mid-June.

The 5MW site in Dorset is the company's first solar farm and will generate enough electricity to power around 1,300 homes. Planning permission for the site was received at the end of 2013 and construction on the 34-acre, three-field site began in April 2014.

In the autumn, wildflower seeds will be sown across the site, and later, Good Energy plans graze sheep between the panels, demonstrating that agriculture, renewable energy production and biodiversity can work side by side.

In addition to Good Energy's funding of the solar panel installations, the parishes of East Stoke and Wool will benefit from an annual £5,000 community fund, to be administered by a charitable trust set up by local people. The local community will be able to apply for funding and the trustees will award the money to those projects they judge as best serve the needs of the community.

An additional sum of £10,000 is being given to East Stoke to support its plans to build a village hall.