Great British Energy and the UK Government will invest up to £30 million in 34 NHS trusts to support the deployment of new solar panels on their facilities.
The investment will see panels installed at 70 NHS sites, although the government did not specify how much solar capacity would be deployed through this scheme. Great British Energy expects that the installation of these panels will save £65 million in energy bills for the relevant NHS trusts over their operational life, with the average site saving around £35,000 per year in energy bills.
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will receive the most funding through the scheme – with three sites set to receive £4.2 million in funding – while Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust will have the most sites supported by the scheme with seven.
“Great British Energy will help your local hospital save money on bills, which can be reinvested in the frontline, from nurses to medical equipment,” said Energy Secretary Michael Shanks. “Across the country, solar panels are being placed on roofs or canopies of parking lots to provide operating rooms with clean, home-grown power.”
This investment is the latest part of Great British Energy’s solar investment programme. with total investment rising to £255m earlier this month. The program will help install solar panels at around 260 NHS sites, 250 schools and 15 military sites, as the government looks to expand the deployment of renewable energy in public sector facilities.
The latest funding round builds on this the £700,000 Great British Energy invested in NHS solar installations in Septemberand decarbonizing the public sector will be a key part of the government’s flagship Clean Energy 2030 plan, which aims to have as much as 47 GW of solar capacity operational by the end of the decade.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) notes that the NHS is the largest user of energy in the public sector, with annual electricity bills of £1.34 billion. Government figures also show that emissions from public sector buildings, largely caused by the use of gas for heating, increased by 1% between 2023 and 2024. Installing the NHS solar panels could help reduce both expensive gas heating and associated emissions.
