Appleby Public Hall has enhanced its environmental credentials by installing solar panels after receiving a funding boost from the ScottishPower Green Energy Trust.
The hall, situated in Boroughgate, is used for a variety of purposes including public and private club meetings, a weekly mini market, blood donations sessions and fitness classes.
The £1500 award by the Green Energy Trust enabled the public hall to install electricity-generating solar photovoltaic panels on the main roof of its building to create a regular income to help finance the hall’s running costs.
After being installed, the system has so far generated 2166 kWh of energy which helps to off-set the substantial maintenance costs of running the community facility by cutting electricity costs and generating a regular income through the Government’s Feed-In tariff scheme.
Alison McKean, Senior Environmental and Social Policy Manager at ScottishPower, said:
“The Green Energy Trust is always keen to support projects that focus on renewable energy and that are of great benefit to local communities. Appleby Public Hall is used by a wide range of people from the local area and by installing solar panels the community will benefit from lower running costs for their hall and also be able to find out about the advantages of green energy and the positive effect it is having on their community.
“Projects such as this are made possible through ScottishPower customers who contribute to our green tariff. It serves to highlight what a big difference their small monthly contributions can make to projects that in turn benefit whole communities.”
Appleby Mayor, Councillor Dot Anderton, said: “I am delighted by this project, as well as saving the environment through this ‘clean’ means of electricity generation, we will be able to support the Appleby rate-payers by earning additional income to off-set against running costs of the public hall. We are very grateful for the contribution from the ScottishPower Green Energy Trust.”
Jo Brabbins, Appleby Public Hall Manager, added:
“Financial support from organisations such as The ScottishPower Green Energy Trust is very important to Appleby Public Hall and helps us to progress in our development plans. We would like to thank the Trust for its generous funding and support of our project.”
Eden District Council and Cumbria County Council also contributed to the solar panels which were installed by Eco Environments Ltd.
For further information on the ScottishPower Green Energy Trust, please visit www.scottishpowergreentrust.co.uk
For further information on Appleby Public Hall, please visit www.applebytown.org.uk
Issued on behalf of ScottishPower by The BIG Partnership.
For further information please contact Susanne Grant on 0141 333 9585 / 07824 388 472 or susanne.grant@bigpartnership.co.uk
Note to Editors
The ScottishPower Green Energy Trust was founded in 1998 as an independent charitable trust to support the development of new renewable energy sources in the UK – helping to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and combat climate change.