Queen Eleanor School has unveiled its new solar power project, which will help to increase student awareness of renewable energy sources and allow the School to benefit from the government’s feed-in tariff scheme.

The cost of the installation was supported by both the School and through an International Global Giving Innovations Grant from Cummins, who work closely with the School on a number of projects. The system was installed by local company PV Solar Installations.

The solar panels were installed by PV Solar Installations (PVSI) Ltd, one of the leading Solar Panel installation companies in Stamford and the surrounding area. PVSI’s Director Phil Auciello said; “it was a pleasure to work with Stamford Queen Eleanor School especially as I used to attend the previous Fane School on the site.

We installed a 9.66kwp system which should produce enough electricity to help run all of the school’s computers and lighting throughout the day. The School will save on its utility bills, cut its carbon footprint and thanks to the feed-in-tariff the solar panels will also generate income for the school.” Solar panels manufactured by BP were used as they offer a market leading warranty and performance guarantees.

The system also provides educational benefits to the students.  As part of the installation PVSI provided a Bluetooth monitoring device which communicates with the electricity inverter installed beneath the solar panels. The device uploads information on the amount of electricity being generated to a website that can be accessed by students and staff.

PVSI managed the entire installation from applying for Planning Permission through to arranging connection to the National Grid. PVSI were able to arrange this as they are accredited installers within the national MCS scheme.  “The School have taken steps to do their part in protecting the environment and protecting themselves from the huge increases in energy prices. As a local firm, PVSI are proud to have been involved in this project” said Mr Auciello.

Head teacher Wendy Hamilton said “This was a great opportunity for the School to show how innovative it could be in both supporting student understanding and awareness of eco-technologies and in providing for financial investment in the School. We are very grateful to Cummins for their support in this, which provided the additional funding that we needed to really get the project going”.

Chris Rushen, Facilities Manager at CGT Stamford, said “CGT supports the local community through its Community Involvement Team, providing financial support and regular employee volunteering. We currently work with 6 key local partners, including Stamford Queen Eleanor School.

The project to install energy saving solar panels at the School fits in well with our aims of bringing benefits to local education and the environment but also gave out local engineers the chance to bring their technical expertise to the team at the School, helping prepare the specifications for the solar panels and making this project a reality. This support meant a very real community involvement beyond our financial contribution and we look forward to supporting similar local environmental and sustainability projects in the future”