Up to 1,000 homes across Liverpool city region to be fitted with solar panels in a discount scheme backed by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram. Tony McDonough reports
A Liverpool city region scheme offering solar panels and battery storage to city region householders at a discount has seen 1,185 homes sign up.
In 2022, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram launched Solar Together. It is a group-buying scheme offering average discounts of 26% on the supply and installation of solar panels to homes in Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens and Halton.
This forms part of a wider series of measures from the Combined Authority to push the city region to net zero carbon by 2040. The programme includes fitting energy-saving measures to 5,500 homes.
A total of 7,962 residents initially registered an interest in the solar scheme with 1,185 now signing up and paying the deposit.
Out of these, 1,114 accepted the offer for solar panels – 145 opting to include battery storage. A further 71 households have chosen to retrofit battery storage to an existing solar installation.
Between 800 and 1,000 projects are expected to go ahead, depending on survey results. Companies in Birkenhead, Wigan and Mold won the contracts to carry out the work with 670 surveys now carried out and 51 projects completed.
Cllr David Baines, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Portfolio Holder for Climate Emergency and Renewable Energy, said: “We know that many people are interested in installing solar panels both to cut their energy bills and to do their bit for the environment.
“But may have been put off by finding a trustworthy contractor or just because the process seemed too complicated.
“Solar Together helps to address those concerns and give residents a simpler way to make the leap – the take-up across the city region shows that many people have now taken that step.”
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Nationally, the initiative has delivered more than 7,000 installations, preventing an estimated 130,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
It was most popular in Wirral, with 444 installations, followed by Liverpool with 254 and Sefton with 207. St Helens accounted for 92 installations with 91 in Halton and 26 in Knowsley.
The Combined Authority has already fitted energy-saving features free-of-charge to more than 1,300 properties occupied by low-income households across the city region, as part of a £60m programme to retrofit 5,500 homes.