New solar panel funding awarded to UHDB, saving a million kilowatt hours of energy a year
Today (21 March) the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced a package of £100 million from Great British Energy for the NHSto install solar power and battery storage solutions to help drive down energy bills, offering better value for the taxpayer.
As part of this groundbreaking new funding, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB) has been awarded £1.8m to install solar panels at Florence Nightingale Community Hospital in Derby and Queen's Hospital Burton in Staffordshire.
At UHDB the solar panels, which will be placed across the full roofs of both hospitals, are expected to be installed by the summer.
This is just one of a number of solar projects taking place across the Trust which, when combined, are expected deliver a staggering one-million-kilowatt hours (kWhs) of energy savings every year. An average UK home uses around 3,000 kWhs of electricity in an entire year.
Investing in renewable energy generation will deliver reductions in energy costs that can be redirected into frontline care. At UHDB alone these new solar panel installation projects are expected to deliver more than 110 tonnes of carbon savings a year - around the equvilient of driving a diesel car more than 650,000 miles - and more than £160k a year of financial savings.
Andrew Selby, Director of Estates and Facilities Management at UHDB, said: "Producing our own power for our hospitals through solar panels not only saves energy and money for the NHS, but is a real step forward in our ambitions to 'go green' as a Trust.
"We want to ensure that every pound is spent wisely for the NHS, so we are really pleased to be one of the NHS organisations benefitting from this new national scheme. Being an environmentally friendly Trust is a big part of our values, not only because it helps us all have a nicer environment, but because it can help us save money which we can reinvest for our patients."
Chief Sustainability Officer at NHS England, Chris Gormley said: ‘Thanks to the dedication of teams nationwide, the NHS has already implemented hundreds of projects that enhance energy efficiency and drive significant cost savings. This groundbreaking new investment, across 78 NHS Trusts on around 200 sites, will expand solar power generation within the NHS by over 300%, slashing energy costs by hundreds of millions of pounds. These vital savings can be reinvested directly into frontline care, ensuring the NHS continues to deliver for our patients and communities.’
UHDB has a dedicated Environmental and Sustainability 'Green' Plan focused on reducing carbon emissions and its overall carbon footprint, supporting the NHS' ambitions to become the world’s first net zero national health service >