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One of Wales’ largest colleges is set to reap big financial benefits after switching on to new energy efficient lighting that will slash its energy bills and protect the environment.

Coleg y Cymoedd, which serves over 25,000 students from a huge area across the South Wales Valleys, is installing energy efficient light fittings across its three largest campuses in order to achieve total savings of more than £31,790 per year and cut CO2 emissions by over 142 tonnes each year.

The investment was made possible by interest-free loans from Salix Finance, which works on behalf of the Welsh Government to boost the energy efficiency of schools, council offices, emergency service stations, universities, colleges and other publicly-owned buildings.

Coleg y Cymoedd is among the latest organisations to work with Salix which to date has supported investments of more than £16.5m in over 850 Welsh projects designed to yield total savings of £53 million across the public sector.

Phase one of the college project involved installing energy efficient T5 lighting and LED fittings throughout its Ystrad Mynach campus. This was completed over five months during 2013 and was funded by an interest-free loan of £81,100 from Salix.

The college have now taken on a further loan for £63,650 to carry on their works at the college’s Nantgarw and Rhondda campuses and are now taking advantage of the summer break to fit the new lighting technology and reduce energy bills even further.

Coleg y Cymoedd will achieve savings from the reduced energy bill that will enable it to repay the interest-free loans in full and will then continue to benefit from lower power bills for many years after the loan has been repaid.

Commenting on the projects, Paul Martin, Deputy Principal of Coleg y Cymoedd said: “It’s unlikely we would have been able to go ahead with the investment without the backing of Salix. This project has been so important for the college both to help reduce our carbon footprint and save money. The savings we will make will be recycled back into all three campuses, to strengthen education, skills and training so our students will feel the benefits of this project.”

Lucinda Green, Salix Finance programme co-ordinator for Wales said: “Working with Coleg y Cymoedd on the first phase has been a real pleasure and we are really looking forward to seeing the final results of the overall project in the near future.”

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