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Council In Wales Approves Installation Of Solar Panels On Grandstands

Councillors at Carmarthen Town Council have approved plans to install solar panels on the three grandstands situated at Carmarthen Park with the work expected to get underway in the next two months.

– Carmarthen Town Council support environmental projects – Drew

The park is utilised for numerous events such as pop concerts, jousting, team-building exercises, fairs and a circus. It also houses what is believed to be the world’s oldest concrete outdoor velodrome that was opened in 1900 and is still used to this day.

The solar panels will cost £21,500 to be installed on the three grandstands but are expected to produce about £1,500 income each year. There is the original Victorian grandstand with newer ones on either side.

The town council’s clerk, Selwyn Thomas, confirmed that tenders had been received but, interestingly, around two and a half years ago it had been estimated that the cost of installing solar panels on all three grandstands would have been in the region of £45,000 so there has been a substantial reduction in price.

Since then the feed in tariff has substantially reduced but it is still felt to be a viable financial proposition with the income generated being used to help with the running costs at the park.

Carmarthen Town Council is obviously environmentally friendly as a couple of years ago St Peters Civic Hall had solar panels put in place. At the time the feed in tariff was 43 p so that is guaranteed for 25 years. The panels generate income of £3,200 per annum that covers the civic hall’s electricity bill of £3,000 each year. They are also supporters of the Welsh Government’s Zero Carbon Communities initiative that endeavours to support communities that produce such things as sustainable energy.

The council are also considering the installation of batteries with the energy produced by the solar panels charging the batteries rather than being fed into the National Grid.

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