Dunstable and Flitwick leisure centres to harness solar power for a sustainable future
Monday, 12 June 2023
Work will start on the installation of solar panels at the Dunstable Centre today, Monday 12 June, marking a step forward towards making the building more sustainable for the future.
Installation of the new solar power system will take around four weeks and will generate clean energy and reduce carbon emissions. This follows the installation of solar panels at Flitwick Leisure Centre, which is ongoing.
The solar panel installations will cover a significant portion of the roof for both centres. By harnessing the power of the sun on the huge roof spaces in both Dunstable and Flitwick leisure centres, 95% of the electricity generated will be used directly by the leisure centres, with the remainder exported back to the grid, which will help keep energy expenditure and running costs lower.
This will also contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to our efforts to combat climate change. Over the next 25 years, the solar panels will cut the carbon footprint of the buildings by 1,196 tonnes of carbon dioxide, reduce energy costs, and generate clean electricity equivalent to that used in a year by 82 homes.
Councillor Tracey Wye, our Executive Member for Sustainability and Climate Resilience said:
This is a great step towards the Council achieving its goal of reducing its carbon footprint and its commitment to achieving net zero by 2030.
The investment in the solar panel systems will be recouped after 4 years and will generate around 22% of the Flitwick centre's electricity and around 30% of Dunstable's. I hope this project will inspire other organisations and households to consider renewable energy installations. As a council, we need to be more robust in ensuring new builds, especially large industrial units, include renewable energy technologies like solar panels on roofs.
Councillor Rebecca Hares, our Executive Member for Health and Community Liaison added:
We understand that a healthy lifestyle is essential to achieving long-term overall health and the decision to install solar panels on two of our leisure centres aligns with our commitment to create a more sustainable environment for our community.
Providing more clean energy, will help create an environment that is safer, healthier and more sustainable for everyone. The solar panel installation will have a long-term positive economic impact on the leisure centres by generating some of their electricity. This will inevitably result in overall energy cost savings of around £86K per annum.
We are excited to take this step and hope to inspire others in our community to prioritise sustainability and wellbeing.
Gary Foley of Everyone Active, which runs both leisure centres on our behalf, said:
We are delighted to support our partners at Central Bedfordshire Council on the installation of these solar panels, helping them to achieve their net zero ambitions, as well as our net zero strategy.
While there may be some noise created by the installation, all facilities and activities will be open as usual. On Monday, June 19, the disabled parking bays at the front of The Dunstable Centre will be closed to allow a crane to access the roof. On that day, we ask anyone needing access to disabled parking to use the bays available in the GObowling car park to the side of the centre.
Our Sustainability Plan (PDF), adopted in 2020, sets out some of the actions the council will take to support the Central Bedfordshire area to be net zero carbon by 2030, and the installation of solar panels at Dunstable and Flitwick leisure centres is another way to help move towards achieving that aim.