A FLAGSHIP £3m bus station is to become the first in the region to be solar powered.

Energy Minister Stephen Timms confirmed £140,000 of Government cash will go towards installing photovoltaic panels in the roof of the new bus station for Stanley.

They will go on the main passenger concourse, which will face south-east, presenting a near ideal opportunity for using solar power. Further photovoltaic installations will cover the clock tower.

On a sunny day, the system will provide more than 23 kilowatts of electricity. Averaged over a year, this would power the equivalent of around six households.

The bus station site, in Mary Street, is owned by Derwentside District Council, which is putting £25,000 towards the panels.

The council's bid was the only project in the North-East to win Government funding in a round of grants for solar power, totalling £2.2m.

The Whitehall report describes the blueprint for the station as 'a sustainable building that would demonstrate best practice and would act as an exemplar project for others to follow.'

Peter Reynolds, the council's head of environmental services, said: "Often in terms of sustainability, things cost more.

"Providing everything does work in the way that it should, this will be a money earner for us."