A newly refurbished building owned by Welshpool Town Council could have solar panels installed to help save money on electric bills.
A Welshpool councillor raised the idea of installing solar panels on the town’s Tourist Information Centre at a services and property committee meeting on September 18.
Cllr Ben Gwalchmai pitched the scheme to the council, saying the initiative could be fully funded by grants if an application was successful.
He said: “I think it’s quite obvious that when a grant is available we should take advantage of this. I don’t know if anyone on the council knows anyone who has solar panels, but it saves a lot of money on bills.
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“I’m asking the committee if they’d like to vote in favour of putting solar panels on Tourist Information Centre as it would be allowed to have them, plus it’s ideal with a great big roof that gets a lot of sun.
“The building isn’t south facing, but contemporary solar panels don’t need every panel to be facing south. It might not be obvious when the building isn’t south facing, but all light into the panels does help.”
Councillors mentioned the success of the 80 kWp solar panels at the Flash Leisure Centre as an example of a similar scheme, with Freedom Leisure’s gas and electricity use per year being cut by around 9 percent since introducing improvements to all 14 sites in Powys.
READ MORE: £1m investment into leisure centres in Powys cuts energy use
Cllr Richard Church added: “It’s a no-brainer in my view. We can look at the recently installed solar panels in the flash, which have apparently cut 10 percent off their electric bill and will do more in the coming years.
“We’ve got the roof space so I say we should absolutely apply for the grants that are available.”
Councillors agreed to the proposal to look into applying for grants but noted that they would only install solar panels on the Tourist Information centre roof if they could be fully funded by grants.
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