“Swimming pools and leisure centers use a huge amount of energy, and solar energy systems are perfect for reducing the dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels. The added benefit of putting solar on your leisure centre is the impact it has on the local community who are able to see and feel solar working in a very tangible way — a winner all round.”

Howard Johns, Managing Director, Southern Solar Ltd

 

Downs Leisure Centre in Seaford is owned by Lewes District Council and operated by Wave Leisure; it uses a particularly large amount of energy. The council wanted to look into ways in which it could lower the centre's electricity bills and, thus, save itself some quite serious money. Solar energy especially appealed to the council, as a system would not only enable them to cut their bills, it would also allow the council to slash its carbon footprint and benefit from the Feed-in Tariff - creating a real investment opportunity. Subsequently, they approached Southern Solar about installing an array on the south-facing roof of the leisure centre.

The council decided upon a 26 kWp Solar PV system, based on options and payback estimations provided by Southern Solar. it is predicted that the 110 solar panels that have been installed will help reduce the centre's CO2 emissions by around 14.5 tonnes every year.

The solar array follwed success at the Wave Leisure Centre that Lewes DC installed at Lewes Leisure Centre, this time of 43 kWp capacity. This should strip an extra 25 Tonnes of CO2 a year from the council's annual total, making 38.67 tonnes altogether each year. Given that these systems should last for the next 30-40 years at least, that will turn out to be a good-sized chunk and something the council can truly be proud of.