Historic church in England installs solar panels
LORRAINE PRICE /01 February 2007
Source: EADT 24 /suffolk & Essex online
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RATHER cold, often draughty and with a touch of damp in the atmosphere is the typical image of the conditions in our historic churches. But a tiny Suffolk parish is rallying against that view by harnessing the power of the sun using 10 state-of-the-art solar panels to warm its congregation and light up its services. Renewable energy is still relatively rare in everyday life but yesterday St Mary’s at Lidgate, near Newmarket, embraced the modern idea thanks to churchwarden and keen environmentalist Michael McEvoy. After 18 months of planning, the church became the oldest in Britain to have solar panels installed, and the first church in Suffolk.
In a bid to more than halve the current electricity bills and provide a more environmentally-friendly energy source to run the building, 10 panels were fitted to the roof of the tower, which dates back more than 700 years. Mr McEvoy said he could not quite believe that his idea had finally become a reality: “We started thinking about it about two years ago but we actually started work on the idea of solar panels about 18 months ago – so it has taken that long to come about.
“I have always been keen on renewable energy. I was first interested in wind turbines but with an historic site like this you can’t have one. Then I thought about solar panels. “We have 15/20 metres of open area on the roof and the panels can’t be seen from the ground. And as the church is on a hill it means the roof is pristine.”
Church warden Michael McEvoy, whose determination and interest in renewable energy helped pave the way for the project to be complete. With no trees around the 25-metre high tower roof and no buildings to rival its prominent place in the landscape, the full extent of its sun’s power will be absorbed by the panels during fine weather, he explained. Mr McEvoy said: “The church is on the top of a hill so it is above the tree canopies and therefore doesn’t get any leaves or debris. The solar panels we have got are the best ones available; they are hybrid so they work even with low lighting.”
The warden said the panels will initially save two thirds of current power bills at St Mary’s and eventually the church hopes to make some money from the power source by selling any excess to the National Grid. Mr McEvoy was delighted with yesterday’s installation and believes it could well catch on. “I have had a lot of other churches asking about what we are doing and getting interested in renewable energy. The villagers will be excited about the new panels – not many of them know about them as it all happened so quickly. We sent letters to everyone about 18 months ago and everyone just thought it was a bit odd,” he said.
“The funding came through just before Christmas so this is a bit like a late Christmas present for us really.” Because the solar panels were funded by £12,000 from the Scottish Power Green Energy Trust and a government grant the church has not had to put any other projects on hold to afford the new energy source.
The 10 panels on the square tower roof have been laid out in three sets, two sets of four panels and one set of two. They are easily accessed thanks to a spiral staircase. A spokesman from St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocese said: “Lidgate is the first church in Suffolk to have these panels installed. “Sustainable energy is something we all concerned about and in time we hope other churches will do something similar.”
Factfile
Lidgate church was built in 1270 and is a flint building with some limestone. It was built in the boundaries of the former Lidgate castle and is surrounded by a moat – it also has part of the castle wall in the church grounds.
Solar panels are flat thermal collectors – they are an assembly of solar cells used to generate electricity. The largest solar panel in the world is under construction in the south of Portugal, which will produce electricity for 21,000 households.