AN AMMAN Valley man has created a film to celebrate the completion of the largest rooftop solar installation in Wales on the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome in Newport, with over 2,000 solar panels.

The film has been made by double BAFTA Cymru winner, Mike Harrison and has been produced in Welsh and English.

The installation is part of Egni’s solar across Wales which has seen 3MW of rooftop solar installed on schools, community buildings and businesses. The work is ongoing.

Awel Aman Tawe, a community energy charity based in the Swansea Valley, set up solar power co-operative, Egni, as well as an £8m community wind farm project, Awel Co-op.

The velodrome work was a partnership between Newport City Council, Newport Live, the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales and Egni Coop.

Cllr. Deb Davies, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “Following the successful installation of solar panels across 19 of our buildings so far, it’s exciting to see the installation completed at the Velodrome site. Our ambition of becoming carbon neutral by 2030 is a key tenant of our pledge to build a better Newport, and the renewable energy that the Velodrome will produce is a positive step towards meeting that ambition.”

Rosie Gillam, Egni Co-op Director said: “This has been a great partnership project and demonstrates that energy co-ops can work at this scale as this is the largest rooftop solar array in Wales. And the Velodrome is more than a just a cycling venue. During the COVID-19 crisis, the Velodrome has been working with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board to support the recovery of formerly ventilated COVID-19 patients post discharge. The Programme, the first of its kind in Wales, gets patients back to where they want to be, both mentally and physically. We’d like to thank all our co-op members who helped make this happen and invited more people to join us. And now that Welsh cyclists will be powered by sunbeams, we hope they’ll go even faster!”

You can view the film on YouTube youtu.be/ZC80dcRmla0