SOLAR energy is being harnessed to help power a water and sewage treatment works near Okehampton.

South West Water has installed photovoltaic (PV) cells at Hill Barton Treatment Works. It has also installed panels at five other sites across the county.

The company has placed a set of 261 panels, each measuring 1.58 metres by 0.81 metres at the six sites. Each set of panels is around the size of one fifth of a football pitch, and could potentially generate 50 kilowatts of energy, enough to power 50 homes.

South West Water had been analysing the potential of solar power for some time, but with the announcement on October 31 2011 that feed-in tariffs would change on December 12 2011, the team had six weeks to get things in place.

After selecting the most suitable sites, eight teams worked around the clock for three weeks to ensure the panels were in place before the deadline.

James Pearce, project manager for South West Water's H5O Partnership, said: 'This was a challenging and demanding task and a lot of effort went into delivering it on time. 

'Everyone involved pulled together to meet the extremely tight deadline. As well as our contractors Mitie, May Gurney and Hyder Consulting working together, we also worked very closely with the staff at each site, which remained fully operational during the installation of the panels.

'It was definitely a case of teamwork getting the job done. By December 11 all six sites were generating energy from their new solar panels.'

The panels cost around £740,000. The savings from the reduction in electricity purchased from the national grid combined with the income from the feed-in tariff will help reduce energy costs at each site.

The project is part of South West Water's drive to reduce its carbon footprint and help combat climate change. The company currently uses approximately 250 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity each year, generating approximately 15GWh annually.

They are aiming to be generating 30GWh per year by the end of 2015, and 50GWh by the end of 2020.