220 solar panels installed on a leisure centre roof in Burnt Oak. It’s not Ealing, but it’s exactly the model West London’s swimming pools will be looking to follow

Burnt Oak Leisure Centre has just had 220 solar panels installed on its roof. It sounds like a council announcement we could easily scroll past. There is one reason to stop and read: this is the first community solar installation on a building owned by Barnet Council. Not a developer’s property, a supermarket or a private school. A public leisure centre that people use just as they use the sports halls and swimming pools on our side of London.

The system has a peak capacity of around 101 kilowatts. More than 70 per cent of the electricity generated is expected to be used on site. Local reports quote savings of £36,000. The partners involved are Community Energy Barnet, Repowering London, the council and leisure operator GLL. Grants have helped fund the project, including £15,000 from the council’s community energy fund, alongside funding from the Greater London Authority and the Energy Redress Scheme. A community share offer is planned for next year, giving ordinary residents the chance to invest in electricity generated on the roof of their local leisure centre.

This works only if the roof is large enough, the structure can support the installation and the building uses plenty of electricity during the day. A leisure centre fits that description better than most blocks of flats. Swimming pools, ventilation, lighting, hairdryers and pumps all need power. Energy bills can swallow the budget of a facility already struggling to make ends meet. That is why the subject keeps coming up at sports centres across London. Unless energy becomes more affordable, a few years down the line someone may cut opening hours, raise membership fees or start talking about closure.

Ealing has its own buildings, its own swimming pools and its own debate about savings. Burnt Oak will not settle that debate. But it shows that a workable arrangement can be put together: the council provides the roof, a community organisation organises the installation, grants cover part of the cost and residents can later invest as shareholders. If it gets through its first winter and its first set of accounts, neighbouring boroughs will start calling to ask about the figures. It is worth keeping this example to hand before someone in Ealing says once again that there is “no workable model” for solar panels.

Written by EalingPulse.uk, 20 September 2026.