Nearly £500,000 Funding Boost For Clean Energy Upgrades At St Mary’s Hospital

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is set to receive just under £500,000 to support clean energy improvements on the Isle of Wight, helping to cut energy bills and free up savings for frontline services.

The funding is part of a wider Government announcement this month, with 82 NHS trusts across the country sharing £74 million to adopt clean energy technologies and improve energy efficiency.

On the Island, the Trust will use the money to install around 200 solar panels, along with battery storage, at the Sevenacres inpatient mental health unit on the St Mary’s Hospital site.

The panels will cover approximately 570 square metres, generate enough electricity to power around 50 homes for a year, and are expected to reduce carbon emissions by about 26 tonnes annually.

Once installed, the system is projected to generate around 148,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy each year, saving the Trust an estimated £26,000 annually.

The savings will be reinvested into patient care and services.

The Trust serves around two million people across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Heather Mitchell, Director of Population & Health Equity and Trust Lead for the delivery of the Green Plan, said the funding would help progress the organisation’s commitment to reaching net zero.

She said the project would not only reduce costs but also support healthier, greener environments and help address the impact of climate change on health.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said lower bills would mean better value for money and more investment in patient care, adding that every penny saved would go back into frontline services as part of building a future-ready NHS.

More than £9 million of the national funding will be delivered in partnership with Great British Energy, supporting the installation of solar panels and battery storage across NHS sites, schools and military facilities.