A York swimming pool which is more than a century old has had solar panels installed on its roof to help cut running costs.
Yearsley Swimming Pool on Haley’s Terrace has been fitted with a 182kWh solar array which is set to save an estimated £23,000-a-year and 29 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Paul Bickle, York partnership manager for GLL Ltd which runs the city’s four leisure centres, said the panels would help make significant savings which would protect the pool’s future.
Cllr Pete Kilbane, City of York Council’s leisure spokesperson, said pools were expensive to run but vital to support people’s health and wellbeing and Yearsley was much-loved by the local community.
The installation of the solar panels follows a grant from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Mayoral Renewables Fund. It provides cash to the public sector to cut energy bills and reduce emissions.
The solar array at the 116-year-old Yearsley Swimming Pool was finished and went live in February.
Completion came amid challenges including the building being in a protected conservation area and the difficulties of doing the installation in winter.
A bigger array than needed currently has been fitted to accommodate future decarbonisation efforts.
The pool is currently heated by gas and it previously used steam supplied from the neighbouring Nestle Rowntree’s chocolate factory.
GLL’s Mr Bickle said they would continue to seek opportunities and funding that would help keep essential community services running.
The partnership manager said: “By securing this funding, we’ve been able to take a major step toward reducing both our environmental impact and our operating costs.”
Cllr Kilbane said initiatives like the one at Yearsley were partly why York swimming pools were able to stay open while others elsewhere were shutting.
The council’s Labour economy, culture and leisure spokesperson said: “Yearsley Pool is a great and much-loved community resource, the addition of solar panels will help bring costs down.”
Council environment executive member Cllr Kent said the project would achieve lasting community benefits.
The executive member said: “This is a great way to reduce energy bills and carbon emissions and make Yearsley Swimming Pool more sustainable in every sense of the word.”
