Northumbria University expects to save around £9,000 in electricity costs following the installation of a solar system.

The 110KW rooftop solar array at its Sports Central facility in Newcastle will also provide the university with an income of around £8,500 per year through the government’s Feed-In Tariff scheme,.

It is part of the university’s ambitious plan to reduce emissions by 32.5% from 2005 levels by the end of the decade.

The university is also assessing the viability of installing a 150KW array at its Coach Lane Campus to help towards achieving its goal.

Damon Kent, Director of Campus Services at Northumbria University said: “The installation of the new solar array at Sport Central, combined with the refurbishment of panels on Northumberland Building, will support this work, meaning that Northumbria can guarantee it is saving over 50 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.”