'Solar panels should make huge savings for schools'

West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker says the schools will make a combined saving of £90,000 a year.

Solar panels are to be installed on the roof of a college and secondary school which will see them generate about 90% of all the energy they need.

Sidney Stringer Academy and Coventry College have some of the city's most gas-hungry buildings, the West Midlands Combined Authority said.

The schools are in Hillfields, an area where residents are being helped to make their homes more energy efficient.

The installation will be funded through a £700,000 grant secured from the state owned power company Great British Energy and will save the schools a combined total of £90,000 per year, West Midlands mayor Richard Parker said.

Andrew Walls, vice principal at Sidney Stringer Academy Trust, said the saving meant more money could be spent on "frontline education".

Gemma Knott, vice principal for business growth at Coventry College, said the schools will also receive funding to train people how to maintain the panels.

The funding is part of a £200 million programme to decarbonise almost 20,000 homes, businesses, and public buildings across the West Midlands Combined Authority area.