Borough goes green to cut energy bill
LONDON’S first publicly owned renewable energy company is to be set up in a scheme that could see the installation of solar panels on school roofs.
Barking & Dagenham council has given the go-ahead to the plan, which could even result in a water turbine being installed in the river Roding.
The east London council hopes the scheme will help cut its £6 million energy bill as well as provide cheap heating and lighting to the community. In addition to solar panels and wind turbines on council-owned buildings, street lights could be replaced by low- cost LED lighting. Council leader Darren Rodwell said: “We’d like to see Barking & Dagenham become the green capital of the capital.
“Across our schools, offices and other buildings, we spend an eye-watering £6 million on gas and electricity. Investing in renewable energy will not only bring down this bill and secure jobs but it will also invest in our children’s future.”
Less than three per cent of London’s elec tric it y comes from renewable sources and in Barking and Dagenham it is less than one per cent.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change says this could be as high as 34 per cent. The Greater London Authority has also set a London-wide target of 25 per cent renewable energy generated by 2025. The council has won £150,000 from DECC for a feasibility study and is pledging £250,000 more to get the company running by the end of the year.