Cost of solar panels for Sheffield council homes criticised as “astronomical"
LibDem and Reform councillors criticise £1.9m spending decision
Sheffield councillors have criticised as “astronomical” the £1.9m cost of putting solar panels on the roofs of council homes.
Sheffield City Council’s finance and performance committee yesterday (October 19) agreed to a £1.67m budget increase for fitting solar PV panels to 212 council homes being re-roofed. The contract already included £320,000 for solar panels.
It also approved spending another £1.32m on a second set of PV panels for 23 city schools. The first phase of the programme has seen panels installed at 21 schools.
Both projects will cut energy bills and allow excess power to be sold to the National Grid by using a battery storage system, councillors heard.
Committee chair Coun Elle Dodd said it was a “brilliant development”.
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The council is largely funding the projects by using the revenue from Sheffield Climate Investment Bonds. The first bond issue attracted £1m from investors and a second issue is planned in December.
The work will be done as part of a four-year roofing replacement contract for 4,716 properties.
Councillors heard it will target the homes that are suitable for solar PV installation and do not meet home energy performance standards.
Coun Mike Levery said: “It’s doing 212 homes out of 4,716, which is 4.5 per cent of the estate that we’re actually re-roofing.
“According to my maths, if you want to do the whole estate it’s over £100m. Which brings me back to questioning why are we doing it?”
Coun Jack Byrom said he agreed: “It seems an astronomical amount when there are other priorities that I think we should be focusing on.”