Marwell Zoo saves money and the environment with new solar panels

Winchester City Council has invested in a large-scale solar energy project at Marwell Zoo as part of its commitment to being greener faster.

In 2021, the council installed 250 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels onto the rooftops of the zoo’s buildings, with the generated power sold to the zoo at a discounted rate per kilowatt hour.

The innovative approach to supplying renewable power in Winchester was developed after securing funding from the Enterprise M3 Clean Growth Pilot Programme. The Sustainability team at the council secured £120,000 match funding from the Local Enterprise Partnership (Enterprise M3 LEP), which made the launch and completion of this project possible.

The 250PV panels have been installed on the rooftops of three buildings at Marwell Zoo – Wild Explorers building, Café Graze, and the Energy Centre.

The panels will last 20 years and generated 86,680kWh per year in the first year of operation, reducing the annual carbon emissions by more than 17tonnes of CO2e per year, or 350tonnes CO2e over the lifetime of the project.

Cllr Kelsie Learney, cabinet member for climate emergency, said: ‘I am delighted the city council have been able to help Marwell Zoo make a significant reduction in carbon emissions and their costs by generating renewable energy on-site. Winchester City Council is determined to make both the council and the district, greener, faster, this project is an excellent example of how we can work in partnership to achieve this.’

Head of sustainability at Marwell Zoo, Dr Duncan East, said: ‘The generation of over 86,000kWh per year enough is enough to power 24 average homes for a year.

‘This will save Marwell around £100,000 over the life of the project, money that can be better spent restoring habitats, training future conservationists and improving the welfare of animals in the zoo.’

Winchester City Council has installed 2,171 roof mounted solar panels across the district generating more than 500,000kWh of clean solar energy annually. The panels are predominantly located on the council’s own buildings as well as BIFFA Winchester depot, Winchester Sport and Leisure Centre and Marwell Zoo.