A project to fit 500 GHA homes with solar panels has been hailed a success after saving tenants £388,000 on their energy bills.

Tenants who had panels fitted to their roofs have benefited from free electricity produced during daylight hours.

The panels have so far generated more than 2.4million kWh of electricity – the equivalent of making 122 million cups of tea.

GHA chair Gordon Sloan joined tenant Kathleen James from Milton who is keeping warm and saving money on her bills thanks to the solar panels which were introduced in 2011.

Kathleen, 66, said: “Before we got the solar panels we were always worrying about heating our home and the cost.

“We’ve saved a lot of money over the past four years – and they are so easy to use. It does it all automatically.”

The panels have also helped save more than 1,400 tonnes of CO2 – the same amount of CO2 as would be produced driving a bus 10,560,000 miles.

Alex McGuire, director of property for GHA’s parent company Wheatley Group, said: “We’re always looking for innovative ways to do even more for our tenants. The success of the solar panel programme is just one way we are helping tenants stay warm in their homes while keeping energy bills down.

“Not only are tenants noticing the difference in their pockets, the programme is also helping us reduce the city’s CO2 emissions at the same time.”

The panels are fitted on south-facing roofs of semi-detached and terraced homes across the city. Income generated by the solar panel feed-in tariffs is reinvested in GHA homes.

Stephanie Clark, policy manager at industry body Scottish Renewables, added: “The savings made by GHA show solar’s potential to reduce the amount households spend on their energy bills and, in turn, reduce the number of Scottish households living in fuel poverty as well as helping us reach our ambitious 2020 renewable energy targets.”

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