A BEXLEY school has got the green light to provide nearly half of its energy needs using solar power.

But the Bexley Business Academy in Yarnton Way, Thamesmead, may be the first and possibly the last school of its size in the country, to achieve it.

Plans to build a solar farm on 4.2 acres of unused land on the school site, were approved by Bexley councillors last week.

The success of the scheme, a joint venture between the academy and Dartford-based renewable energy company Enevis, depends on it qualifying for the government’s Feed in Tariff (FIT) which provides a guaranteed payment for energy to the National Grid provided by small scale producers.

After concerns were raised, the government has already moved to stop larger-scale producers from cashing in on the scheme.

Following a review, in August the government is expected to slash the payments made to new, larger scale electricity producers, such as the academy.

So while the school, whose new solar farm should be up and running in July, will receive the current payment of 30.7p for every kilowatt of electricity it supplies to the National Grid, from August, a similar scheme will only receive 8.5p per kilowatt.

Academy chief executive Sam Elms said: “We have forged the way since becoming the first academy to open in 2003.

“We were the first to open a primary and become an all-through primary/secondary school and now we will be the first to have a large solar farm.”

She added: ““This landmark project will reinforce our position as an eco-school and help us secure Green Flag status.”

Enevis commercial director Ashley Bateup said: ““Given the certainty of ever-rising energy prices, the installation of a renewable energy resource, such as solar PV, is something that we expect an increasing number of academies and schools to embrace.”

Farm will cut academy's huge energy bills

THE Bexley Business Academy in Yarnton Way, Thamesmead, is housed in an iconic Norman Foster-designed building.

But its huge glass walls give it one of the worst energy ratings for school buildings in the country.

The academy currently uses more than 1.6 million kilowatts of electricity a year, costing the school around £104,700.

It is estimated the solar farm will generate 558.6 kilowatts at its peak, providing around 45 per cent of the academy’s energy needs and shaving £46,790 off its electricity bill.

It will also reduce the school’s carbon footprint by 457 tonnes a year.

When the school is on holiday, it will sell its electricity to the National Grid Its solar farm will be build on land formerly occupied by the old Thamesmead Community College buildings, now covered in scrub grass and prone to flooding.

The site will be nearly three times the size of the Wembly football pitch.

It will consist of 133 frames standing around eight feet high among the grass, and arranged in 15 rows.

Each frame will contain 20 photovoltaic or solar panels and the site will be screened by a new hedge.

The electricity they generate will be carried by an underground cable to an existing electricity sub-station within the school site.

Intallation work will begin almost immediately and will take five weeks.

Pupils will get first hand lessons on green energy

RUNNING in tandem with the new solar farm will be a renewable energy education centre.

This will be housed in a single-storey classroom with a sedum roof and a curved glass wall providing a viewing area over the solar panels.

It will not only be used by academy pupils, but will be open to other schools for lessons on renewable energy.

The site will also include a new dipping pond, wildflower meadow, areas attractive to reptiles and invertabrates and a native 2.5m high hedgerow facing Yarnton Way.

Academy chief executive Sam Elms said the new education centre would “allow the students to learn about and see first hand the benefits of renewable energy technologies and how they can play a major role in helping us all reduce our dependence on fossil fuels”.

Ashley Bateup, commercial director of Dartford renewable energy company Enevis, the academy’s partner in the venture, said: ““With renewable energy becoming an increasingly important part of everyday life, we feel it is vital that young people have a chance to see it in action and to learn more about it.”

He added: “With this in mind we are working to develop a range of teaching materials with the academy that are linked to the national curriculum.”