Solar panels for Haringey hostels

Twelve Haringey hostels will enjoy a greener Christmas after solar panels were installed on their roofs.
The hostels, spread across six wards in the borough, have been kitted out with cutting edge photovoltaic technology under a scheme led by Haringey Council.

The panels will generate more than 23,500 kWh of energy per year, removing 12.5 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.

Energy will be used to provide heat, lighting and hot water to the hostels, with surplus energy sold back to the national grid.

Revenue generated by the installations - expected to be at least £67,000 over the 25-year lifetime of the panels - will be pumped back into energy saving initiatives in the borough.

Haringey Council and PV panel providers Smarter Energy Solutions moved quickly to make sure the panels were up and running before feed-in-tariff rates were halved by the government this month.

The installation of the panels delivers a very small percentage (just 1.5 per cent) of the council’s previous plans PV panels.

Other schemes were plunged into doubt when the government announced that feed-in-tariffs would be slashed as early as mid-December - leaving little time to get contracts signed and panels installed before schemes became too expensive.

Cllr Joe Goldberg, cabinet member for finance and carbon reduction, said: “I’m pleased that we were able to save this scheme by getting it in place so quickly. It will bring great benefits to the hostels, generate income for energy saving measures and reduce carbon emissions in Haringey.

“But what is devastating is that so many other similar schemes may never see the light of day in Haringey because of the sudden decision to slash feed-in-tariffs by 50 per cent.

“Haringey Council is determined to reduce carbon emissions through its Carbon Commission and 40:20 projects aimed at delivering a 40 per cent drop in CO2 emissions by 2020, but the decision by the government to move the goal posts on feed-in-tariffs makes the challenge greater than ever.

“We support the judicial review launched by Friends of the Earth against the government’s decision to half the tariff and hope that it will be reversed.”