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Keele University
KEELE UNIVERSITY Solarpanel installation underway on campus
The installation of 12,500 solar panels at Keele University has begun, as part of amajor low carbon energy project supporting the Universitys pledge to be carbon neutral by 2030.
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The solar photo-voltaic (PV) panels are being installed at ground level in fields on the edge of the campus as part of the Universitys low carbon energy project. Two large wind turbines and an industrial size battery for storing generated energy will also be installed later this year.
The solar panels will be managed and financed by ENGIE, aleading energy and services company focused on producing and supplying lowcarbon energy, which has agreed a25-year deal with Keele to fund, design, build and operate amultitechnology energy park that will generate at least 50 per cent of the Universitys campus electricity requirements from renewable sources.
The combined carbon emissions savings from the wind and solar farm will be around 1,500 tonnes per year.
Professor Mark Ormerod, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost and institutional lead for sustainability, said: The installation of the first solar panel on our new Low Carbon Energy Generation Park is a significant moment in our journey to becoming acarbon neutral campus. This is areally exciting step for the University and the installation of the solar panels reflectsKeeles commitment to providing as much of its electricity requirements as possible through on-site renewable energy generation to minimise our carbon emissions.
Keele wasone of the first universities in the UK to declare aclimate emergency in 2019 and has recently published its Climate Action Framework principles, outlining its holistic approach to tackling the climate crisis.
Keele wasalso named Sustainability institution of the Year at the 2020Green Gown Awards, anational awards scheme celebrating the efforts of higher and further education institutions to promote and embed sustainability across all of their operations.