Council says Lifford solar panels are making a difference

Donegal County Council says the recent installation of 36 solar panels to the roof area of County House in Lifford is already reducing emissions and helping make the council more energy efficient.
Facilities Manager Peadar Espey says it’s part of the council’s overall drive to achieve energy performance improvements, with the system set to generate approximately 8,350 kilo Watt hours of electricity per annum.

Left to right: Emmett McCabe and Peadar Espey from Donegal County Council Facilities Management and Energy Team with Barry Sharkey and Emmett Sharkey from North West PV, the Solar PV contractor.#
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Council statement in full –
County House in Lifford going solar
Donegal County Council has recently installed 36 Solar Photovoltaic panels to the roof area of the County House, it’s main headquarters in Lifford.
“Solar PV converts energy from sunlight into electricity” explains Peadar Espey, Facilites Manager with Donegal County Council.
“The installation of these solar panels is part of our overall drive to achieve energy performance improvements throughout all our premises.  The solar PV system will generate approximately 8,350 kilo Watt hours (kWh) of electricity per annum.
“Since installed in late September the system has generated 636kWh with the highest production for a single day at 27kWh. When the days are longer and brighter from April to September the installation has the potential to generate over 60 kWh per day” explains Peadar Espey.
This initiative is part of the Councils ongoing drive to improve energy performance throughout  its operations and is in line with its ISO 50001 accredited Energy Management System which was first achieved in October 2016 and has been retained following a number of extensive independent audits.
“We are fully committed to transitioning to a low carbon, climate resilient society and the work we have being doing over the last number of years to improve our energy efficiency and reduce our carbon emissions forms an important part of the global fight against climate change.  The use of this type renewable energy will assist Donegal County Council in helping achieve national targets of reducing carbon emissions by 30% and improving energy efficiency by 50% by 2030 under the national Climate Action Plan 2019” concludes Peadar Espey.