Brighton & Hove City Council has embarked on a massive rooftop solar installation project by installing 730 solar panels across the roofs of their council-owned buildings, including the leisure centres Freedom Leisure operate on their behalf.
The panels will reduce carbon emissions by around 340 tonnes and generate an additional 350,000 kWh of renewable energy a year – the equivalent of powering 130 homes.
An impressive 292 solar panels have been fitted to the roof of Prince Regent Swimming Complex alone (pictured above). 97% of the energy generated will be consumed by the facility, saving more than 24 tonnes of CO2e emissions annually – the same as planting 1,138 trees every year. Of Brighton & Hove’s 7 public leisure centres, 5 now have solar panels.
This is a fantastic step towards supporting our broader goals of promoting energy efficiency and sustainability at our leisure centres. Our centres in Brighton and Hove are the hubs of community activity and this project will help us reduce costs and reinvest those savings into better services and programmes for our customers thanks to the significant investment from Brighton & Hove City Council in these energy saving initiatives. This is another meaningful step in reducing carbon emissions and promoting good environmental stewardship.
Matt Wickham