A school in Pembroke is selling 24,212 kilowatts of surplus energy generated from solar panels to Enemalta.

The announcement was made by Education Parliamentary Assistant Stephen Spiteri who was visiting St Clara’s College in Pembroke.

St Clara’s is one of several schools around Malta and Gozo using renewal energy sources to generate electricity and hot water.

The Malta Resources Authority is accepting applications for households to benefit from a scheme that repays 50 per cent of funds spent on the purchase of photovoltaic panels, up to €3,000.

At present, there are also another two schemes offering incentives to those buying solar water heaters.

Mr Spiteri said that over the past six years about 12,000 families had benefited from assistance to purchase equipment that generated energy from renewable sources.

He said the government had established a feed-in tariff, whereby a family would receive 25c for every unit of energy it contributed to the national grid. Gozitan families receive 28c, as part of the Eco-Gozo project.

Mr Spiteri encouraged people to become more aware of the need for a cleaner environment, achieved by using alternative energy sources.