More Dorset public buildings are to benefit from solar panels.

The latest include the Dorset Council Ridgeway Social and Education Centre in Weymouth; the Purbeck School at Wareham; Streets Meadow at Wimborne Minster; the Mountjoy School in Beaminster and the Comrades Hall at Broadwindsor.

The Ridgeway Centre in Links Road will have the 208 panels installed on the Ridgeway Plus adult day centre, generating 72kW of power, saving more than 15,000kg of CO2 emission a year.

The Mountjoy School plan is for a similar number of panels. The site is to the north of Beaminster School and the Community Sports Hall.

Streets Meadow care home in Wimborne Minster will also benefit from a similar sized scheme.

At the Purbeck School a 200kW scheme is being proposed comprising 576 panels on flat roofed areas of the buildings. A similar scheme has already been put forward for the adjoining Purbeck Sports Centre.

The projects are all being carried out with the help of a government grant to Dorset Council to help it improve the energy efficiency of public buildings with proposals already made for County Hall in Dorchester and other buildings elsewhere.

The Comrades Hall scheme is an independent project, proposed by the hall management committee and also includes an air source heat pump in the place of existing oil tanks and the replacement of an existing timber shelter with a more modern construction in the same location.