• Swindon & Wiltshire Eco
• Monday March 25 2024
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Swindon’s Link Centre to go green with solar panels

Swindon’s Link Centre is going green with the installation of rooftop solar panels.

Swindon Borough Council has won a grant of over £115,000 to make the town’s biggest leisure centre more energy efficient.

Most of the grant will be put towards the solar panels, which will generate over 100,000kWh of renewable energy.

The remaining funding will be used to upgrade the swimming pool’s lighting so it uses less energy to reduce the leisure centre’s energy costs further.

The investment is the latest set of improvements to be made to the Link Centre since a major flood last September closed the facility for several months.

The flood left the Swindon Wildcats – one of the UK’s top ice hockey teams – homeless for three months.

At the end of last year, the council procured new state-of-the-art ice technology and equipment using part of the £2 million funding the local authority had previously allocated to leisure provision to replace the ice rink which was destroyed by the flood water.

The new ice installation, which cost £385,000, is expected to reduce electricity usage by 20 per cent, saving the equivalent of 283 metric tonnes of CO2, helping centre operator GLL reduce its carbon output in line with both its own and the council’s Net Zero ambitions.

Councillor Jim Grant, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for communities and joint working, said: “This award is great news for the Link Centre and builds on our previous investment in the ice rink.

“We need to make our leisure centres as sustainable as possible so that operators can continue to afford to run them.

“By installing solar panels and using energy-efficient lighting we can reduce running costs and help secure the Link Centre’s long-term future.

“The improvements also support our mission to achieve net zero and help us play our part in combatting climate change.”

Barnaby Rich, GLL’s partnership manager for Swindon said: “We would like to thank Swindon Borough Council for helping to secure this significant financial award, which will transform energy usage within the leisure centre.

“The installation of the solar panels builds on the measures we put in place during 2023 to improve the energy efficiency of the Link’s ice rink and aligns with GLL’s Respecting the Planet organisational strategy and the council’s commitment to carbon net zero.”

Earlier this month the Five Rivers leisure centre in Salisbury announced it was installing a solar car park, which will contribute over 10 per cent of the centre’s overall electricity usage and save £50,000 on annual bills.