CHESHIRE Police Authority are reducing their carbon footprint by planning to install solar panels on some of their buildings.
Three police custody suites, police stations and a Tactical Training Centre in Winsford will all house the solar panels which will reduce the buildings’ energy bills by £17,500 a year and attract Government subsidies of about £34,000.
The panels will also provide carbon savings of 101 tonnes in the first year.
Margaret Ollerenshaw, Police Authority chairman, said the move was ‘a real opportunity to work towards a long term goal.”
“The carbon saving is equivalent to 3% of our overall carbon emissions savings target,” she added.
"The cost savings are based on current energy prices and it is estimated that we would cover the half-million pound cost of the project in about seven years.
"If energy prices rise, the savings will be even higher and there is also the possibility that at least one of the buildings will produce enough electricity for some of it to be ‘exported' for use elsewhere,” she added.
