PEH solar array ‘enough to power 35 homes for a year’

And plans have been announced to make the Longue Hougue waste facility the next renewable energy site the company will work on.

The Princess Elizabeth Hospital and Guernsey Electricity are investigating installing solar panels, power from which would feed directly into the network.

Vince Smith, head of energy solutions for GE, said the PEH offered a huge site, but the John Henry Court staff accommodation building looks most appropriate for a solar PV system.

‘Some of the rationale is that it has a good roof and it’s pointing in the right direction,’ he said.

‘This will be a starter with the hope that when they start developing the rest of the hospital we will be looking at other opportunities there.

‘This obviously depends on what the States decide is their energy policy.’

The solar PV system at the PEH will be similar in size to the solar array installed at the power station in March 2018.

‘Since our array here was operational, it has so far produced 120,000 units, which is enough for 35 to 40 small properties depending on how efficient they are,’ said Mr Smith.

‘This would make sense if I took the pre-investment calculation, but it hasn’t quite been a full year yet.

‘We would expect to see similar figures from an array at the PEH.

‘So this is a small amount of seeing Guernsey produce its own green low-carbon energy, for the good of all in the community.

‘This isn’t just the wealthy and businesses being able to do it, in a small way we all benefit.’

Mr Smith said the agreement sees Health & Social Care provide the roof space for free, while GE installs the system and operates it throughout its lifetime.

‘We don’t pay rent, but in effect they get the carbon credit for having it being there,’ he said.

‘It’s not about us going and paying them thousands a year, it’s about the carbon credit.

‘We want to do the right thing, they want to do the right thing on behalf of the whole community.’

The next steps for Guernsey Electricity will see a small solar panel array installed at the recycling facility, as well as finishing the one at Guernsey Post.

‘We aren’t going to cover the entire waste facility, we have been given a small area to put some on, about a third of the size of ours,’ said Mr Smith.

‘In terms of the one at Guernsey Post, there is still a bit of internal design to be done, we still have a lot of process and procedure.

‘The aim is still to see it up and running in the summer.’

Mr Smith added that while it had discussed adding solar panels to operations outside the States, it was a more difficult process because owners may feel their roof space has some rental income and look at it differently.