Merthyr Town Football Club has become the first football club in Wales to install green energy generating solar panels.
The panels have been installed by Swansea-based operative Egni Co-op above the main stand at the club’s Penydarren Park Stadium.
The panels, which will save the club around £600 a year in energy costs while significantly reducing its carbon footprint, forms a £30,000 investment by Egni.
The funding has come from Engi’s funding raising activities supported by its members. Egni’s share offer, which is still open, has raised £4.4m of its £4.6m target to date.
All its sites, including Merthyr Football Club, benefit from the feed in tariff subsidy, with any access energy generated sold back into the grid.
The energy deals created from its green infrastructure provides a 4% return for investors repayable over 20 years.
Egni has installed 4.3MWp (megawatt peak) of solar capacity, the most of any co-op in the UK, on 88 sites across Wales – these include schools, businesses and community buildings. Merthyr Football Club is also a co-operative venture owned by its members.
Alex Ferraro from Egni said:“We believe that Merthyr Town Football Club is now the greenest football club in Wales. We’ve also got solar panels on a number of other sporting venues including Cwmgors Rugby Club, Bryncethin Rugby Pavilion, Garnant Park Golf Club, Cymmer Community Swimming Pool and the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales.
" We’d like Wrexham Football Club owned by Hollywood stars, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to follow Merthyr’s lead.”
Rob Davies from Merthyr Town Football Club said “Tackling climate change and reducing our energy costs are very important to the club. We are delighted with our new solar panels from Egni Co-op.
"We hope solar power will provide even greater footballing energy for the Martyrs. We look forward to the sunlit uplands of the future.”
