Historic school looking to bright future with solar energy

A historic Ribble Valley school is looking to an even brighter future with the installation of new solar panels.

Stonyhurst College in Hurst Green has contracted Ribchester-based Green Shield Group to install the system which is expected to generate 397,157 kWh of electricity a year and save an estimated 55.6 tonnes of CO₂e, helping the historic school lower its energy bills and reduce the amount of electricity it buys from the grid.

Stonyhurst College traces its roots to 1593, when English Jesuit priest Fr Robert Persons SJ founded a school in Saint-Omer, then part of the Spanish Netherlands and now in northern France. Following periods of relocation across mainland Europe, the school moved to Lancashire in 1794 and became fully co-educational in 1999.

Former pupils include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, and England Rugby World Cup winner Will Greenwood.

Solar panels are now due to be fitted to the Grade II* listed South Front and part of the Grade I listed Old Quadrangle, as well as to the roofs of the Refectory, swimming pool and St Mary’s Sports Hall.

As lead consultant on the Stonyhurst solar installation, Green Shield Group coordinated surveys and liaised with Ribble Valley Borough Council, which granted planning permission and listed building consent. Historic England raised no objection on heritage grounds after additional information was submitted on roof loading and the layout of electrical equipment.

AMPYR Distributed Energy is providing funding for the rooftop solar project.

Alex Palffy, lead engineer at Green Shield Group, said: “It was a wonderful brief to be given, and a demanding one. The first time you see the South Front at the end of the dramatic driveway, you understand why people care so much about how the college looks.

“With a sharp focus on enabling the school to generate its own electricity while keeping the character of the buildings that generations of pupils have known, we had to show that the historic roofs could carry the extra weight, set the panels back behind parapets where possible, and plan where the cables and electrical equipment would go.

“We also had to consider wildlife and where reflections from the panels might be visible.

“There’s a lovely connection with the college’s observatory. In the late 19th century, people here made grids to plot the positions of sunspots, and astronomers went on to use them around the world. I love the idea that the same school that helped astronomers map the surface of the Sun will now be using sunlight to power its day-to-day life.”

While the wider project also includes four electric vehicle charge points, the solar installation is expected to be commissioned in early 2027.

Paul Sharples, commercial director at Stonyhurst College, said: “Generating more of our own electricity will help us manage our energy costs and cut our carbon footprint. We needed a design that worked with roofs of very different ages and protected the buildings and collections in our care.”