Solar Panels Installed

A total of 12 solar panels have been installed to the roof of the Bedale Athletic Sports Club and Community Centre.

It is estimated the panels will save around £2,370 in the first year with the payback estimated to be six years.

The panels were installed by Austin Gregg of Gregg Electricals.

At a cost to install of £14,057, this is not something the association could have done without  grant aid from the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund established to raise funds for community and environmental projects across the county.

The sports association had to meet strict guidelines to access the funding, such as being within seven miles of a Tarmac quarry, waste, cement or lime site and ten miles within a landfill site and operator.

Sports club chairman Martyn Coombs said: “As a voluntary association of sports clubs, including association football, cricket, croquet, running, squash and racketball and tennis, with over 350 members, it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage expenditure without increasing our fees to a level that might prohibit members of the community enrolling in the association, so the grant aid from the Tarmac Limited Landfill Communities Fund was a Godsend.

“Solar energy is a renewable energy source which is clean and creates no carbon emissions or other heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

“It avoids the environmental damage associated with mining or drilling for fossil fuels and uses little to no water, unlike power plants that generate electricity using steam turbines.

“In addition, our solar panels will reduce our reliance on the grid and reduce our energy costs. Our project will reduce our reliance on electricity generated from fossil fuel power stations and will also reduce our carbon footprint.”

Tony Tait, operations manager at Tarmac’s Marfield quarry, said: “We are pleased to have been able to help Bedale Sports Club and Community Centre with this donation through the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund.

“It’s great to see local clubs looking at ways to make their facilitates more sustainable for the future, whilst also helping the environment.’

Committee member Colin Tipton said: “The system comprises 12 black mono solar panels to collect sunlight and turn it into DC electricity.

“The panels are connected to a 3.7 kW inverter, which converts the DC electricity into mains (AC) electricity. A Fox Cube 12.09kW battery storage system allows us to store excess energy from sunny days, so that we can use generated electricity at night too.

“We expect our system to generate 3528 kWh per year, providing 20% of the annual electricity consumption of 15,500 kWh in the association.

“Over a projected 25-year lifetime, we expect the system to have a net present value of £29,473.”

Published: 02/11/2023 Published by: WJP Software

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