Carmarthenshire County Council’s executive board has agreed that solar panels should be installed on the roofs of 2,700 council homes.
Meeting today (Monday, May 11, 2015), members agreed to adopt the ‘rent a roof’ scheme, meaning council tenants could be in line to save around £6.3million on fuel bills over the next 20 years.
The council has already tested the market in respect of the scheme and has undertaken a competitive tendering exercise to find a partner that would deliver best results for tenants, with little investment from the council.
It found that around 32 per cent of the housing stock, and all 17 of the council’s sheltered housing schemes, were suitable for solar panels.
The rent a roof model means the third party, which would own the panels, will receive all the income generated from the Feed in Tariff and export tariff for 20 years, but tenants will have reduced fuel bills from the electricity used when the panels are operating.
The model also has a £2.1million community fund to help address fuel poverty on a wider level, including for tenants whose homes are not suitable for panels.
The council will now begin preparing homes for the panels, with around £1.8million budgeted for roof strengthening works.
Other non-housing buildings owned by the council are also being looked at as part of the scheme.
Cllr Tegwen Devichand, Executive Board Member for Housing, said: “We are committed to helping our tenants save money by improving their homes and have looked at solar PV systems amongst a wider range of sustainable measures to address fuel poverty as part of our Carmarthenshire Homes Standard Plus (CHS+) business plan.”
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