Every school in England is being offered the chance to get solar panels installed at no cost to themselves.

The Keep Britain Tidy’s Eco-Schools programme has launched an ambitious Solar Power scheme giving all schools the chance to cut their carbon footprint and save energy and money.

The Eco-Schools programme, founded in 1994 and now with more than 15,000 schools involved, is offering the installation of solar panels to schools, including maintenance, at no cost to the school or local authorities.

Not only will the schools be able to use the electricity generated without charge, they’ll also make an annual income from the surplus power which the Eco-Schools Solar programme will arrange to sell to a utility.

Schools taking part in the programme could save an estimated 25 tonnes of carbon every year and make energy savings on average of 13.5%, saving themselves up to £5,000 a year.

If all 15,000 Eco-Schools took part this could save a massive 385,000 tonnes of carbon a year.

Keep Britain Tidy’s Eco-Schools manager Andrew Suter said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for schools to reap the benefits of solar power and significantly reduce their energy bills and their carbon footprint at the same time.

"This blue-ribbon initiative offers schools an opportunity to gain in so many ways. It is the most significant scheme we have ever launched."

But schools, you must hurry! You can register for the scheme now but you only have until July 31. And, it’s on a first-come, first-served basis.

Let’s hope all 15,000 schools register at exactly the same time and are all, therefore, first-served!

[Image: mjmonty]