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Almost 900 solar panels are to be installed on the roof of Preston College in an attempt to cut its carbon footprint.
Preston City Council has approved the plans, which are designed to reduce the facility’s reliance on what it describes as “fossil-fuelled grid electricity”.
The majority of the energy generated will be used by the St. Vincents Road college itself, with the remainder exported to the local electricity network.
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A total of 881 panels will be put in place, covering 14 percent of the flat roof area of one of the buildings on the site and allowing space for skylights.
They are expected to produce around 370MWh of electricity every year, saving over 82 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The installation will be out of sight from houses and passers by on St. Vincent’s Road, because it will be screened by mature trees.
The panels will be a darker colour than the current roof material and angled at 10 degrees, but the college says there are no taller buildings within a 500m radius that could be “visually impacted by the array”.
In granting what is known as ‘prior approval’ for the installation, town hall planners noted that the college building is set away from residential properties.
“The building to which this application relates is surrounded by other college buildings which restrict the view of the solar panels from any public vantage points,” a report by planning officers explains.
“Given the location and significant separation distance from existing residential properties, it is not considered that the proposed panels would result in any significant level of glare.”
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