Cramlington — 48 kWp solar PV array for primary school

The Cramlington primary school approached us in mid-2025 as part of an academy-trust-wide carbon reduction programme. The trust had successfully bid for PSDS Round 4 funding covering 60% of capital cost for solar PV across 3 school sites; we were appointed for the Cramlington installation following a competitive 3-bidder tender process.

The roof survey identified 480 m² of usable area split between a 360° south-facing pitched section (ideal) and 120° west-facing section (good, but with afternoon shading from a neighbouring sports hall). The 48 kWp size was sized to fit cleanly within the south-facing area + use 80% of the west-facing area, leaving the remainder for the existing roof-mounted AC condensers.

We specified LG NeON H 445W panels (premium tier — 25-year performance warranty essential for a 20-year-asset public-sector project) and SolarEdge three-phase commercial inverters with Power Optimisers per panel for shading resilience. The Modbus monitoring portal feeds into the trust's broader energy management dashboard so they can attribute generation and CO₂ savings per site.

Install completed over the 2-week Easter holiday — minimal term-time disruption, scaffolding erected on day 1, panels mounted days 2-6, inverter + commissioning + monitoring portal handover days 7-10. Northern Powergrid G99 was approved 6 weeks before install start.

After 6 weeks of operation the array is on track for the projected 42,000 kWh/year generation. The school uses roughly 60% of generation directly (school hours align well with peak solar generation), exporting 40% at 6p/kWh under their commercial SEG arrangement. Annual saving estimated £8,400 on the school's £23,000 electricity bill. The CO₂ data is being used in the school's pupil-facing sustainability curriculum — pupils can see live generation data on a hallway display.