Walsall Academy

Walsall Academy which is located in Bloxwich, Walsall, opened its doors in September 2003. It currently has approximately 1500 students from year 7 to Sixth form.

The academy was one of a few city academies established in England prior to the expansion of the academies program and is part of the Thomas Telford Multi Academy Trust.

With a perfect set-up for Solar PV, the academy decided it was time to investigate ways to reduce the annual energy consumption and begin their road to NET zero.

The process

Kembla was brought in to assess the feasibility of the school and design a PV system to help reduce electricity usage.

MD Declan Adams said:

“As soon as you drive into the site, you notice the huge south facing curved roof which is perfect for Solar”

Different options were presented to the client and in the end, the academy decided to proceed which a SolarEdge set up allowing full visibility across the system.

What we did

Kembla supplied and installed a 260.1kWp system maximising the curved roof and two more sections to the back of the building.

The plant room was established in the main IT room where the servers are kept as the conditions in there are kept cool.

A SolarEdge modbus device was also installed to allow the school full import and export monitoring.

Another great feature which Kembla installed was the SolarEdge firefighter gateway. This device will signal the inverters into standby mode in the event of a fire. This further increases the safety of the system and was required by the school’s insurers

Total system :

578 x 450w Longi Mono panels
2 x 100kw Solaredge synergy managers
289 x P950 power optimizers
Solaredge Modbus device
Solaredge firefighter gateway
S-Flex mounting

Expected generation

This system is now expected to generate 229MWH per year which will result in a 20-25% reduction in electricity costs per year.

Why was installing a Solar PV system important for the school?

Deputy Head, Jon Clarke said:

This whole process was driven not only by the financial management or the Academy but also y the student eco-club who have been working closely with the Academy’s management team to move the academy towards net zero on its carbon emissions. The detailed proposal by Kembla supported the students in learning about the use of solar PV and the benefits it could bring. The installation process happened during a school holiday which caused no disruption to the normal school day. It has been an easy process to complete and is now showing its worth. Importantly the students of the academy believe that they are making a positive leap forward in moving the academy further towards net zero on carbon emissions.

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