Here Comes the Sun…

As a leader in the arts and environment field, we’re always looking for ways to make Toynbee Studios more sustainable (and are proud to have Green Tourism Silver award).

Since the studios were renovated in 2006 we’ve been investigating the potential of putting solar panels on the roof. Then, back in September last year (when the sun was still shining) we came upon Joju Solar, who thought they might be able to help.

Joju turned out to be exactly what we needed – they were able to manage the whole project – from the many conversations with surveyors about the weight of the panels, how they would be fixed and designed, and how much electricity the system might generate, to the purchase and installation of the panels. Finally last week Joju’s engineers installed 40 solar panels – which will generate up to 10 kilowatts of green energy.

The installation will also (hopefully) help us make significant savings. With an estimated return of around 12% the panels will hopefully pay for themselves in around eight years – and over the next 25 years (the length of the lease we have on the whole building) we’re likely to make a significant return through our feed-in tariff.

For those of us who haven’t made it up to the roof to have a look, we’ve also installed a digital display in the foyer which will show how much electricity we’re generating at any time, so here’s hoping for a hot summer in E1.