LIMERICK County Hall and Library Headquarters have become the first state-owned buildings in the country to install photovoltaic solar panels to reduce their carbon footprint and energy usage.

Limerick County Council estimates that the project—delivered by leading solar electricity provider Cool Power Ltd—will reduce the local authority's fossil energy consumption in the buildings by 15%.

Photovoltaic (PV) technology converts sunlight into electricity and the majority of existing solar technologies used in state-owned premises throughout the country use sunlight to heat water only.

“When Limerick County Council embarked in the construction of new corporate buildings, one of the key issues was sustainability,' said Chris Barry, Facilities Manager with Limerick County Council.

“Environmental policies are constantly changing and, as a local authority, we need to advocate renewable technologies and how they can be used in an appropriate way. This project fits in with the overall energy strategy of the council and the Governments National Climate Change Strategy 2007-12, which aims to provide for 15% of electricity to be generated from renewable by 2010.”

The new naturally ventilated state-of-the-art County Hall was opened in 2003 and, since then, Limerick County Council has been looking at ways of complementing its efficient design with new technologies

“Cool Power agreed to install the system and remain the owner of the arrays, while Limerick County Council buys the green electricity generated from the system, avoiding the upfront cost of the installation. In the end, we decided to install PV arrays not only in the County Hall, but also in the new Library headquarters, Lissanalta House where the council have also installed solar panels, which provide up to 70% of domestic hot water need,” he added.

“The system will definitely have an impact reducing our carbon footprint and for compliance purposes with future directives. It is a significant addition to other strategies we have in place to reduce our energy usage and we are proud to be the first local authority taking this step.”

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