Renewable specialist Vital Energi has been instructed to assess the suitability of 65 university buildings for solar installations.

The University already heats most of its buildings via an award-winning green energy plant which pumps hot water to St Andrews from 4 miles away at Eden Campus in Guardbridge. The solar project is the next stage in a plan to cut all of its potentially harmful emissions to zero over the next 11 years.

It’s estimated the solar project will save 200 tonnes of carbon per year, while effectively future-proofing the University’s energy security.

Student residences like David Russell Apartments and Agnes Blackadder Hall could be prime sites for the major solar arrays.

Chief operating officer Derek Watson said: “St Andrews is blessed with more hours of sunshine than almost any other town in the UK, it’s a great natural resource, and knowing what we know now about the scale of the climate crisis, it would be irresponsible not to consider how we can use solar power here and now.”

The solar project is the next stage in a plan by the University to play an important role in tackling the climate emergency by reducing its carbon emissions and meeting net zero targets.

Stephen Traynor from Vital Energi said: “Rooftops are a great resource for any organisation looking to decarbonise, but lots of work has to go into checking if each location is viable. We now have a list of buildings which are suitable and are pleased to be helping the University with the planning process. This is a project which can have a significant positive impact on the University achieving their ambitious 2035 Net Zero targets.”

The University already uses solar energy from the photovoltaic array at Eden Campus, where a battery storage unit harnesses the renewable energy, facilitating the shift from fossil fuels across the institution and cutting the University’s carbon footprint by approximately 5%.