A WEST Devon school has celebrated going green with a new solar power system.

Staff and children at South Tawton Primary School are all set to save around 1,858kg of CO2 each year with their new renewable energy system.

The ground mounted solar panels, which cost just under £30,000, have been installed by Devon company Naturalwatt.

They will generate more than 4,320 units of clean, green electricity every year.

Headteacher at South Tawton Primary Heather Poustie said they were thrilled with the new renewable energy system.

She said: 'This is very exciting for our children — we all feel that we are contributing something to the future of our planet.

'It's been a real bonus for our science lessons, and has meant we have more budget to spend on educational resources for the school.'

Mrs Poustie expressed thanks to everyone who has supported the scheme: 'We wouldn't have been able to do it without the very generous support of the Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund and the Sticklepath Trust and Green Challenge Fund, who all donated money towards the scheme.'

The new system also includes a webpage which shows how much energy the school's solar panels are generating, how much CO2 it is saving, as well as an instant weather station.

Naturalwatt managing director Will Grafton said: 'It's great to be involved in this kind of project where we can show the children the impact of renewable energy on our everyday lives.

'We've worked closely with the school to help them through the planning and financing of the project, using all the Government grants available.'

Mr Grafton said the solar power system will help people save money in the long run.

He added: 'Sadly, many of these grants are no longer on offer, however, the Government has now turned its attention to homeowners with the new Feed-in Tariffs, which means that for every unit of energy the panels produce, the Government will pay people £41.3p.

'On top of that, if people produce more energy than they need, the energy companies will pay them an additional amount.

'An average house with a 2.5 kWp installation will save around £1,000 a year on their energy bills.'

The Devon company supplies and installs solar panels, solar thermal energy systems and wind turbines.

It also offers an online monitor so that users can track their energy usage and CO2 savings every minute of every day.