Our Story

Salford City Council has been awarded £7.5m government funding through part of the wider Greater Manchester Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to deliver a programme of decarbonisation of 37 heating and solar panel installation works on 31 council owned buildings.

The programme includes installations of Air Source Heat Pumps on 12 sites in the city including leisure facilities, park buildings, children’s homes and the town hall. We are also installing Solar PV Panels at 21 buildings which will generate 466,970kWh of energy a year and 540.63kWp of energy generation towards the GM 45MW target.

The installation of the Air Source Heat Pumps will decarbonise the heating for the sites from gas or oil at 12 sites, to being heated by electricity from renewable sources, therefore decarbonising the heat. Additionally, 4 Battery Energy Systems have been installed across different sites.

The Challenge

Decarbonising our public estate will not only reduce our emissions as an organisation but also set an example and promote these technologies to residents and businesses in the city that we are leading the way in decarbonisation. However, we face come challenges along the way.

Firstly, a complex bid submissions process meant there was a short turnaround to apply for funding. The proactive approach by Salford’s Energy team, already having a defined pipeline of buildings we could include, was beneficial and helped us overcome this challenge.

Another challenge we faced was the challenging timescales for project delivery. While this is an ongoing challenge, the Salford programme of installations is well underway and forecast to be completed on time. Working closely with colleagues in other departments such as planning and procurement has helped us overcome this challenge as we were ready to hit the ground running as soon as the funding was secured.

The Solution

The success of our project can be measured in a number of different ways. From a financial perspective, the work on energy efficiency and renewable energy generation on site will bring down energy bills for our residents.

These sort of projects help show that we are leading the way in producing clean energy to meet the wider GM targets. While this looks good on us as an organisation, it allows other businesses and organisations to follow suit, which will help make a larger impact. Solving the climate crisis requires everyone to work together, therefore paving the way for others to follow is crucial.

Additionally, our projects have allowed us to create a resilient portfolio of Council buildings, shielding us from the volatile energy market.