As part of their net zero emissions, Cotswold District Council will be retrofitting their Cirencester offices on Trinity Road with solar panels.

The authority hopes the panels will save them around £42,000 per year in energy bills.

Back in 2019, Cotswold District Council declared a climate crisis and has since then, implemented a range of energy-saving tech into their daily operations, including a scheme called Cotswold Home Solar, designed to help residents find suitable solar options for their private homes.

“Climate change is a global challenge, but its impacts are felt right here in the Cotswolds, whether that’s from more frequent incidents of flooding or changes to our native wildlife. It is fantastic that we are now able to harness green technology for our Trinity Road site, helping us to make council operations more sustainable and bring significant savings on the day-to-day running cost of this building”

Mike McKeown – Local Councillor

In a statement released by the authority, they say they expect the panels to generate enough energy to meet, and at times even exceeded, the buildings summertime electricity needs, generating around 141,000kWh of power annually.

That extra, clean energy should produce them a carbon saving of about 29 tonnes of greenhouse gasses, meaning it will take about five years to recover the cost of the instillation.