Sunny Solar Challenge @ Eyam CE Primary School

You will almost certainly have heard of Eyam as ‘The Historic Plague Village’ from 1666 but now there is a more modern story to tell. A new schoolroom in Eyam was opened on 15th November 1877 in Eyam and the Church of England Primary school has grown since this time.

For many years the school has been environmentally minded and is proud to be a holder of the Green Flag Eco Award. In 2021 as part of a topic about Polar environments, the children were visited by Ghazala Ahmad-Mear, a Sheffield oral and maxillofacial surgeon who was the only woman who walked with Robert Swan on the South Pole Energy Challenge in January 2018. As well as sharing her training routine, which included dragging a large rubber tyre around the local area to simulate her sledge, she showed the children the solar panels she used to charge her equipment on her epic trip across the pole. Following this, and ably lead by Oona Gilbertson, who has a passion for preserving our environment, the school decided to reduce its carbon footprint and energy costs by installing solar panels to generate electricity and additional insulation to reduce heat loss.

The pathway to achieving this has not been straightforward as there have been many hurdles to overcome as the school is in a conservation area in the Peak District National Park. There has been liaising with the Peak Park, permission from the Church of England who hold the buildings in trust, fund raising by the PTA, applications for grants which included the Eco Warriors creating a promotional video, support from HVCA, etc. Then there have been the technical aspects of the school wiring and grid connection and the structural integrity of the roof. The technical installation of the panels was ably specified by Tom Mastin of Smart Homes Electrical in Tansley and they have now been installed on both aspects of a rear classroom roof and are generating electricity. Modern panels do not have to face south and may produce more power in an east-west orientation.

The project was supported by Hope Valley Climate Action (HVCA) at every opportunity in the sincere hope that it will be a trailblazer for other Hope Valley schools. The local action group aim to tackle the causes and consequences of climate change and to make a positive difference to future sustainability.

Small rural schools are struggling with energy costs which reduces funds for staff, equipment and maintenance i.e. they are entering fuel poverty. Future plans include working with other local schools to run a climate action event as part of the national expectation that schools are to work towards a net zero target: reducing direct and indirect emissions from education and care buildings, driving innovation and improving education. As part of this HVCA is providing a teaching kit so that the children can better understand how the solar energy is used to generate electricity and is sustainable.

Another benefit for the village of Eyam is that, with the school taking less power and, often adding it to the grid, there is more electricity available to others. A HVCA 2022 survey of grid infrastructure in the Hope Valley showed that the present cables were inadequate to meet future needs as we swap to electric vehicles, heat pumps and electricity for everything. Therefore, for power security we will need to generate and store electricity locally to meet peak demand and keep the lights on. Eyam Primary School is helping with this and many other homes, businesses, schools, etc will hopefully follow suit.