Swindon residents encouraged to join hundreds of households in going green
Solar Together has been running since 2022
People living in Swindon have just under four weeks left to sign up for this year's Solar Together scheme.
In the three years the scheme has been running, over 6,000 solar panels have been installed on 602 Swindon homes – with an additional 440 households already having signed up this year.
The scheme is delivered by Swindon Borough Council in partnership with Wiltshire Council and independent group purchase provider iChoosr.
Councillor Emma Bushell, deputy leader of Swindon Borough Council and ambassador for a Greener Swindon, told Greatest Hits Radio: “It's a fantastic opportunity for local residents to access renewable energy for affordable prices. It means residents can save on energy bills whilst doing their bit to protect the environment by transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
“Basically, it harnesses the power of collective buying so that local residents can get solar power panels at cheaper prices. In last year's scheme, the average cost of solar panels was about 39% cheaper than the market average, so it's a really good opportunity.”
In its first three years, the scheme has generated a combined investment of almost £6m into renewable energy in Swindon.
Over their 25-year lifetime, the solar panels are expected to reduce CO₂ emissions by 11,853 tonnes.
“We do need as a community in Swindon and across the country to reduce our carbon emissions, clean our clean our air up and try and stabilise the global temperature increase at 1.5 degrees, which will give us some chance of mitigating the impacts of climate change and not making it worse”, added Cllr Bushell.
“So, it's one of the things that we're doing as part of our mission to make a greener Swindon.”
The scheme is open to all Swindon residents who own their own property or have their landlord’s permission to install solar panels.
There also is an opportunity for small and medium-sized businesses and commonhold associations to sign up.
The registration deadline for this year is 8 August.