Stirling Council's Housing Service has won the Best Residential Solar and Storage Project award at the annual UK Solar and Storage Awards 2019, beating a short-list of four entries.

The award recognises the significant impact the Council's investment in renewable technology for its social housing stock over the past seven years has had on improving energy efficiency, reducing fuel poverty and carbon emissions.

Housing Portfolio holder for the Council, Cllr Evelyn Tweed said: "This award is deserved recognition for the staff in our Housing Service and confirms our position as one of the leading social landlords in solar and battery storage technology in the UK.

"We are leading the way in harnessing renewable energy to improve the service to our citizens and my praise goes to the team for their outstanding work."

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To date over 37,000 panels have been installed on more than 3,900 Council housing properties, generating an estimated 9,700,000kWh of free renewable electricity every year.

This also has the added benefit of preventing the emission of 6,300 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.

Depute Port Folio Holder, Cllr Danny Gibson, said: "The Housing Team have been working incredibly hard to improve the energy efficiency of our Council homes so I'm delighted to see their efforts recognised with this UK-wide industry award."

In addition to reducing the energy costs for tenants, the Council's investment to date has resulted in 49% of the Council housing stock already meeting the new challenging minimum energy efficiency standards for social landlords in Scotland 13 years ahead of schedule.

Fellow depute Port Folio Holder, Cllr Graham Lambie added: "Our investment has also included the installation of battery storage systems to further reduce energy costs.

"More than 330 housing property battery storage systems are set to be installed by March 2020, further underlining our commitment to providing environmental excellence in our housing stock by increasing energy efficiency in the homes we provide to the public."

(MH/CM)