Overview
Katherine Warington School is a newly formed comprehensive and co‐educational secondary school. By 2025 they will have grown to their capacity of 1150 students. Energy costs have risen, and the school needs to keep up demand on energy consumption, so they are turning to a more efficient and sustainable solution.
The Brief
Katherine Warington School approached Barker with the ambition to transform their energy management strategy with the aim of making financial savings and reducing their carbon emissions.
A programme was devised to complete this target in the summer of 2023, to better sustain the school with the current economic and environmental circumstances.
The Challenge
Barker’s M&E teams supported the initial PV designs through design development, and following contractor (ECSL) appointment, the final designs were decided and approved.
To avoid confrontation with student timetables and potential H&S coordination issues, installation took place in the summer. This ensured little hazard and higher efficiency during installation.
Careful project and risk planning allowed for the timely delivery of this project, and the programme contract works were completed within five weeks.
The Outcome
Since installation Katherine Warington School have direct access to the Solar Edge Monitoring portal to track electricity production. The array began immediately generating from the date of electrical connection, and between July and September 2023, the school consumed 83% of its own generated electricity, hence considerably reducing the cost of bills.
Pleased with this outcome, the client feels less pressure dealing with the energy crisis. They are optimistic about how this will help them achieve their goal of reducing their carbon emissions. As a result of this project they have initially saved 18.21 tons of carbon dioxide emissions which is an equivalent to planting 836 trees.
“I was really impressed with Barker’s support right from the Feasibility Study to Handover. It was great to have support along the way and it’s great to see the electricity savings are in line with those modelled in the Feasibility Study.”
Dean Inns, School Business Manager