WOLVERCOTE village hall has become one of the first community buildings in the county to be powered by the sun.

The hall had solar panels installed on its roof and they went ‘live’ at the weekend.

Half of the £50,000 cost is being funded by a grant from the Government-sponsored Low Carbon Building Programme and the installation of the panels has also been made possible by grants from Oxford City Council’s north area committee, Oxfordshire County Council and the Waste Recycling Environmental Network, which distributes landfill tax cash.

Other money was raised by the Wolvercote Low Carbon Group and donations came from individuals living in the village.

The panels, installed by London-based company JoJu, will generate electricity for the busy hall, which is used for community group meetings, wedding receptions, plays, concerts, social events and is home to the Montessori nursery.

The hi-tech kit is a 10-kilowatt system, made up of 60 Sharpe 170-watt panels that convert radiation into electricity. The panels cover 78.6 square metres and produce more than 8,000 kilowatts per year, more than the village hall uses.

When the building is not in use, the power generated will be fed back into the National Grid, hopefully creating revenue that will be used for further environmental improvements to the building.

The excess electricity will be sold in return for Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) at 9.5p per unit, plus however much the electricty company will pay for it. The village hall will save 3.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

The chairman of the hall’s management committee, Tim Metcalfe, was glad to see the sun shining for the first weekend of operation.

He said: “This project has been made possible by the efforts of groups and individuals in the village who have worked hard to help raise the cash to make our dream of a solar-powered hall a reality.

“We are looking forward to running our first ‘solar-powered’ events including the village’s summer festival on June 19-28.

“We plan to hold a solar party this summer to celebrate the big switch-on and thank all the people who have supported the project, which illustrates how public buildings can be used to help cut the city’s carbon footprint.”

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