Cost of installing more solar panels at city car park revealed

Worcester councillors backed plans to add five times more panels at St Martin’s Gate car park in City Walls Road – increasing the amount of energy produced by nearly 450 per cent.

Green councillor Marjory Bisset, joint leader of the city council, said the move was a “no-brainer.”

The solar panels would generate enough power to help run hundreds of lights, electric vehicle charging points and the handful of lifts at St Martin’s Gate Park, and the council estimates more solar panels would help cut its bills by around £58,000 every year – based on current prices – and could save the authority even more with rising energy costs.

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But while the council said the solar panels would generate enough electricity to save £58,000 yearly, the cost of borrowing, the loss of revenue and other costs would leave an actual annual saving of around £13,000 every year for the next 25 years.

The move was unanimously backed by the council’s policy and resources committee at a meeting in the Guildhall on October 16.

Last summer, Worcester City Council revealed it was looking to add to the number of solar panels on top of St Martin’s Gate car park at a cost of around £400,000 – but is now expected the move will cost at least £521,000.

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As many as 38 spaces would be lost from the 700-space car park off City Walls Road to make way for the new panels – with the current layout expected to make £825,000 this year.

The council said the loss of income would be “minimal” as the car park was only ever full in the run-up to Christmas.

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The city centre car park became the first council-owned building to have solar panels when they were installed in 2019.

A climate emergency was also declared in Worcester in 2019 which includes pledges to generate more renewable electricity and heating in council-owned buildings and look at making as many buildings as possible carbon neutral.

In July, councillors agreed to set aside £710,250 to install more solar panels at St Martin’s Gate car park, but also at Perdiswell Leisure Centre.

The move was to help struggling Freedom Leisure, which runs Perdiswell Leisure Centre on behalf of Worcester City Council, reduce the cost of its energy bills.

But with the price of installing solar panels at St Martin’s Gate rising, the council could be left with less money to spend at Perdiswell.

Kevin Moore, the city council’s head of property, said he believed the plan for Perdiswell could still go ahead under the current budget, but the council was still applying for specific swimming pool funding from Sport England.