Five NHS sites and 11 primary schools - from the south coast to the North-east - will save a combined total of £3.8m on their energy bills after installing Great British Energy solar panels.

Panels were installed at the five NHS sites and three schools over the summer, with eight more schools due to get new solar panels over the autumn. 

It follows the government’s announcement in March to award £180m of funding for schools and hospitals to install rooftop solar, marking the first major project for Great British Energy.

In England, around £80m is supporting around 200 schools, alongside £100m for nearly 200 NHS sites, covering a third of NHS trusts, to install rooftop solar panels that could power classrooms and NHS services with clean, homegrown energy, while giving them the potential to sell leftover energy back to the grid. 

Great British Energy’s CEO, Dan McGrail, said: “Great British Energy has been set up as a publicly owned energy company to help deliver the government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower. 

“Our ongoing solar rollout delivers tangible benefits to the people that need it most in our hospitals and schools. Our continuing work is ensuring money is being put back into frontline care and education, providing cheap, clean and secure power.”

Chris Gormley, chief sustainability officer at NHS England, added:  “Thanks to this new funding, we are set to expand solar generation by more than 300% across the NHS – slashing millions of pounds from energy bills, which can then be redirected into patient care.

“These new solar panels are expected to save the NHS £8.6m every year once all the projects are completed, adding up to £260m over their lifetime.

“That’s a massive leap towards a more sustainable, cost-efficient NHS – building on the great work already undertaken in the five years since we became the first healthcare system in the world to commit to reaching net zero.”

Currently only about 20% of schools and around 10% of hospitals have solar panels installed, despite the huge potential for the clean energy technology to help save money on bills.

Estimates suggest that on average, NHS sites could save up to £45,000 a year and a typical school could save up to £25,000 per year - if they had solar panels with complementary technologies installed such as batteries.

Solar installations at NHS sites, with a combined project cost of £704,332, are:

• Hinckley And Bosworth Hospital Wards - Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
• Hartlepool South Ambulance Station - North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
• The Hollies - Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
• Winchester & Eastleigh Resource Centre - South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
• Ipswich Ambulance Hub – East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust