Limerick County Hall and Library Headquarters have become the first state-owned buildings in Ireland to install Photovoltaic solar panels to reduce their carbon footprint and energy usage.

Limerick County Council has estimated the project, delivered by leading solar electricity provider Cool Power Ltd, will reduce the local authority’s fossil energy consumption in the buildings by 15%.

Photovoltaic (PV) technology converts sunlight into electricity. The majority of existing solar technologies used in state-owned premises throughout the country use sunlight to heat water only.

"When Limerick County Council embarked in the construction of new corporate buildings, one of the key issues was sustainability," said Chris Barry, Facilities Manager with Limerick County Council.

"Environmental policies are constantly changing and, as a local authority, we need to advocate renewable technologies and how they can be used in an appropriate way," he added.

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Limerick County Councils' new naturally ventilated state-of-the-art County Hall was opened in 2003 and, since then, Limerick County Council has sought ways of complementing its design with new technologies to provide sources of renewable energy.

In 2006, the council looked at different proposals to install PV arrays around the building, initially for the new County Hall.

Mr Barry explained: "Cool Power agreed to install the system and remain the owner of the arrays, while Limerick County Council buys the green electricity generated from the system, avoiding the upfront cost of the installation.

"In the end, we decided to install PV arrays not only in the County Hall, but also in the new Library headquarters, Lissanalta House where the council have also installed solar panels, which provide up to 70% of domestic hot water need."

Limerick County Council will monitor the new system for the next year to get accurate data on energy consumption but it is estimated the council will reduce its dependence on mains electricity by ten to 15%, generating electricity seven days a week.

Tim Cooper, Managing Director of Cool Power, said: "This project represents the first large solar PV system install on state owned buildings; the first independently financed large PV system and the first sale of 100% renewable locally generated electricity to a large customer."

He suggested Cool Power was in a unique position as in it has a license from the Central Energy Regulator (CER) to trade in electricity generated from a renewable source.

(PR/JM)