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South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) has secured over £1m of NHS funding for solar projects in four locations across the trust’s estate.
The funding is part of a £100m investment in solar and battery installations announced at the end of last week. The scheme is jointly run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Great British Energy (GBE) and NHS England.
The announcement will see SCAS install solar panels at the trust’s Winchester & Eastleigh Resource Centre, North Harbour Resource Centre (Portsmouth), Abingdon Fleet Services and Stoke Mandeville Resource Centre (Aylesbury).
Work has already started on the Winchester site, with SCAS keen to progress with a proof of concept installation that would demonstrate the very clear financial and environmental benefits from installing Solar PV with battery storage.
“SCAS has started the transition to an electric vehicle fleet and we also have ambitious plans to decarbonise our heating. Both of these initiatives will see a significant increase in our electricity consumption so installing Solar PV with battery energy storage systems will offset this cost, whilst enhancing our resilience and reducing our carbon footprint.”
Jonathan Guppy, Sustainability Manager at SCAS.
The work at the Winchester & Eastleigh Resource Centre will see 626 panels with a 345kWh battery energy storage system installed, allowing surplus power produced during the day to be used at night. It is estimated that, once finished, the installation will generate 100% of the site’s electricity requirements for more than six months a year, and save the trust around £34,000 in annual electricity costs.
This one installation will also mean the trust saves 49 tonnes of CO2 annually, the equivalent of planting 2,258 trees a year. Similar savings and benefits are expected at the other three sites in Portsmouth, Abingdon and Aylesbury, with construction work to commence later this year.
The £100m funding was awarded to 132 projects across 78 NHS trusts, covering around 200 sites in England. It is expected that the programme will:
- Save the NHS around £8.6m annually in addition to current savings from solar power in the NHS
- Generate an additional estimated 55 million kWh annually of solar-generated electricity
- Ensure an average return on investment of between 200-260%, with an average payback period of less than 15 years
- See a 300% increase in NHS solar generation.
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