SOLAR panels could help a council create its own electricity.

Cherwell District Council wants to put solar panels on five of its buildings, which it hopes would generate enough electricity to run them.

So far the technology is being used on one building, Thorpe Lane depot, in Banbury.

Now councillors are looking to expand the environmentally-friendly energy system to more of its buildings, including its Bodicote headquarters and Banbury Museum, in Castle Quay shopping centre, its sports centres and other buildings at Thorpe Lane.

Proposals have gone out to tender for Bodicote House and the museum. If approved, work could start in May and should take about 10 weeks to finish.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells – similar to solar panels – were installed at one building at Thorpe Lane depot last August and cost £47,428.

Thorpe Lane depot has about five main buildings which house the council’s refuse collection and recycling operation along with its vehicle testing and maintenance bays.

The solar panels are said to save the council about £1,100 in electricity charges a year, and reduce CO2 emissions by almost seven tonnes per year.

The scheme is viable because Cherwell also gets a Government subsidy of £3,900 a year, which means the local authority will break even after almost 10 years.

Councillors have yet to approve the £1.2m funding, which would come from its capital reserves.