£7.45m spent on making public buildings more energy…

£7.45m spent on making public buildings more energy efficient

A £7.45 million scheme to make Salford’s public buildings more energy efficient has been completed. The scheme, in which the council received funding through public body Salix Finance via the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, has delivered improvements to 30 public buildings across the city, saving 2,498,663 kwh of energy and 584 tonnes of carbon.

Since 2020, some 2,562 solar panels have been fitted to 21 public buildings, introducing air source heat pump systems to replace previous heating systems on 12 sites. Battery energy storage systems have been placed at four sites which will store excess energy from the solar panels and charge electricity from the grid during cheaper off-peak periods at night to then redistribute this during the day, cutting our energy bills.

Council bosses say the energy that the programme has saved would enable an electric car to go around the world 301 times. It would also power 277,629 houses – more than double the size of Salford – for a day.

The carbon saved is the equivalent of the council planting a further 29,200 trees in the city. Solar panels will generate an output of 778,130 kwh of clean energy every year which will be tripled following the construction of our 5,000-panelled solar farm in Little Hulton.

Councillor Mike McCusker, lead member for planning, transport and sustainable development, said: “We are delivering innovative solutions to make our public estate more sustainable as we work towards our goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2038. This scheme will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of a number of key buildings across the estate, including our leisure and sports facilities and children’s homes, which will now be sustainably heated and better equipped to help us build a greener Salford in the coming years."

But he added more must be done to address the climate emergency in addition to a £126 million investment into the city's green spaces and walking and cycling routes across the city. Other measures included in the programme include installing a variety of energy-saving tools to Salford's public estate such as LED lighting, insulation, radiator valves, double glazing and metering.

The scheme was made possible after £78 million was secured by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and 15 other partners from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. The funding was provided to Greater Manchester to support energy efficiency upgrades to 200 buildings across the city region with Salford receiving £7.454 million.

Of the 30 public buildings to be upgraded through the programme, Salford Sports Village in Kersal received the most new measures and is expected to save 46 tonnes of carbon per year.

The measures included:

A new air source heat pump system to replace the previous gas boiler system that uses air extracted from the outside to channel heating around the building.
130 solar panels installed to generate 40,600 kwh annually in energy.
A new building energy management system (BeMS) which will monitor and control the building’s energy to ensure it runs at an efficient level and prevents it from being wasted.
Both internal and external heating pipework insulation to ensure that maximum heat energy is distributed to the radiators.
Installation of LED lighting within the building and the car park which uses much less electricity than other alternatives such as fluorescent lighting.
A battery energy storage system to store excess generated solar energy and cheaper off-peak, grid-supplied electricity and then use this to power the building during the day when tariffs are more expensive.

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