Wiltshire Council is expanding its use of solar canopies to generate renewable electricity for leisure centres and other council buildings, helping to reduce carbon emissions and energy costs.

The new installation at Melksham Community Campus is now operational, with solar panels above 34 parking spaces providing electricity for the campus. These panels are in addition to the 575 panels already installed on the roof of the campus. The canopy also offers shade and shelter for people using the car park.

It joins existing installations at Five Rivers Health and Wellbeing Centre in Salisbury and Corsham Community Campus. At Five Rivers, three solar canopies cover 70 parking spaces and generate enough electricity to supply roughly 10% of the centre’s power demand.

Five solar canopies are also planned for the new Trowbridge Leisure Centre, with 483 panels above 64 parking spaces. The all-electric centre will use air source heat pumps for heating and will also have rooftop solar panels.

Cllr Helen Belcher, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Enterprise, Regeneration and Assets, said: “Solar canopies make use of the space above car parks to generate electricity for our buildings, while keeping the parking spaces available for visitors.

“At Melksham Community Campus, the new installation is providing renewable electricity for the centre and giving people shade and shelter when they park.

“Generating more electricity on site helps reduce our reliance on the national grid and lower the cost of running services. Alongside improvements to heating and energy efficiency, these projects are helping us reduce emissions from the buildings residents use every day.”

Across the council’s solar installations, around 2.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity are generated each year, supplying about 20% of its electricity demand. Energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy generation across council buildings together delivered estimated net savings of £1 million in 2025/26.

The canopies form part of wider work to reduce energy use and replace fossil fuel heating in council buildings, including leisure centres, libraries and offices. The council’s direct emissions have fallen by just over 82% since 2019.

More information about the council’s climate work is available at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/climate-change.