Lancaster council plans solar panel project for sheltered bungalows

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Lancaster City Council have become the latest local council in the UK to take steps towards a renewable energy future, this time through the announcement of a potential £170,000 project that would see the addition of solar panels to 35 sheltered bungalows.

There will be a decision made this week to determine whether they will authorise the funds to award the contract to install the solar PV panels, with the project estimated to save over 35 tonnes of CO2 per year. 


The council cabinet received a report which stated: "The installation of solar PV panels is one of a range of measures designed to improve the thermal comfort of homes, to lower customer energy bills and to reduce the impact of harmful carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Not only will this improve the overall EPC rating of these properties, there will also be a reduction in energy bills for residents in our sheltered bungalows, which will create co-benefits that will support health and wellbeing."

In addition to the solar panels, the residents of each home will also receive free LED lighting. Lancaster City Council has projected that residents of the bungalows included in the project could see an energy bill saving of anywhere between £180 and £990 over a three year span.


As far as where the funding would come from, council staff said: "The HRA (Housing Revenue Account) capital programme includes £120,000 for Whole House Refurbishment within this financial year. Redirection of this amount to Carbon Zero Plus measures, for which the programme already includes provision of £70,000, will allow the required £175,000 for the installation of Solar PV panels on 35 sheltered scheme properties.”

"The use of virements to realign or refocus existing funds from one expenditure head to another is permitted subject to the limits set out in the Council’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy. The value requested does not require full cabinet approval under the council’s existing virement policy. However, current COVID delegations require the new or recommencement of capital projects to be approved by cabinet irrespective of the financial level and so for clarity approval by full cabinet is sought for both expenditure and funding reallocation."


We can only commend Lancaster City Council for these moves, part of their aims to be carbon neutral by 2030. We look forward to seeing many other councils take similar steps.


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