A PRIMARY school is celebrating switching to green energy – and expects to save more than £167,000 in fuel bills over two decades.

South Otterington Church of England Primary School, based in the village near Northallerton, recently replaced its expensive oil-burning boiler with an eco-friendly, biomass version which burns wood pellets, chips or logs.

It is estimated the new boiler will cut running costs by almost £8,000 a year, saving almost £2,000 in fuel and enabling the school to qualify for the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme payments for the next twenty years.

The RHI scheme involves financial incentives from the government to encourage the uptake of renewable heat technologies.

The new installation will also allow the primary school, which has 105 pupils, to reduce its carbon emissions by 332 tonnes over the next two decades.

HCS Mechanical Services, based in Northallerton, installed the boiler, submitted the paperwork for the RHI grants and created a purpose-built extension for it.

Renewables manager Bob Chicken said: “The new biomass boiler should bring a wealth of benefits and is expected to pay for itself in just six and half years – giving the school over 13 years to maximise the benefits of the RHI payments.”