A project to install solar panels on the roof of Miners Court in Redruth has come to a successful completion.

Coastline Housing was able to install rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels at the Extra Care scheme following a grant of £468,863 from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme, which is managed by Cornwall Council and funded by the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Residents have been watching the many panels getting installed with great interest over a number of months. In total the panels cover an area of 1960 square metres – that’s the equivalent of around four basketball courts or just over seven tennis courts.

Ben Nevitte, who has been overseeing the project at Coastline Housing, explains: "The panels will soon be powered up when National Grid complete an infrastructure upgrade and then we hope they will bring a reduction in energy bills to residents at the scheme. Residents at Miners Court have a range of support needs so often use a higher than normal amount of electricity, heating and hot water to meet their medical and equipment needs.”

Grant Dymond, surveyor from Taylor Lewis adds: “With a focus on sustainability, innovation, and communal collaboration, we are excited to see the positive impact this will have on both the environment and its community. The re-roofing works at Miners Court, coupled with the installation of an impressive solar array will ensure this Extra Care scheme can operate efficiently for years to come.”

Miners Court comprises 64 self-contained flats and offers communal and community facilities as well. It is estimated that residents in each of the flats will save £162 a year on their electricity bill and also receive an export income of £148 a year from the panels.

Additionally, they will all benefit from a further saving of £35 per year thanks to reduced energy costs in running the communal facilities. This means a benefit to each flat of £346 which translates to a fantastic £22,126 a year across the scheme.

The project was undertaken by SunGift Solar and Coastline Housing’s own roofers. Damien Connery, commercial director of SunGift Solar, said: “This project has been a shining example of how housing associations can smartly and efficiently deploy solar and energy storage at scale as part of a re-roofing project.

“With over £1-billion in energy efficiency upgrade funding announced last month for social housing providers we expect projects like this to be emulated across the country.”

It is estimated that the panels will offset 41 tonnes of C02 each year across the site and also increase the energy ratings of the flats inside.

During the project the workforce removed (by hand) 238 tonnes of clean concrete roof tiles that were all locally transported a distance of under one mile to a specialist construction aggregate recycling company to be crushed down, repurposed into aggregates and reused within the construction industry.

This saved the equivalent of over 1,300 kg of C02 and equates to over 300,000 charges of an average smart phone.