The first 11 schools have had installed solar panels as the project to give schools across the country solar panels takes shape.

The panels, supplied by Great British Energy under the Government’s Plan for Change for public services, could save an estimated to save £175,000 per year after installing Great British Energy solar panels. The remaining schools set to benefit will be announced this summer, with all schools that are part of the scheme expected to have solar panels installed by the end of the year.

In England, around £80m has been earmarked for around 200 schools, alongside £100m for nearly 200 NHS sites, covering a third of NHS trusts.

Great British Energy Chair Juergen Maier said: “By partnering with the public sector as we scale up the company, we will continue to make an immediate impact as we work to roll out clean, homegrown energy projects, crowd in investment and create job opportunities across the country.”

Currently only about 20 per cent of schools have solar panels installed, with estimates that, on average, a typical school could save up to £25,000 per year if they had solar panels with complementary technologies installed such as batteries.

---