A university has officially launched a solar energy project to heat a swimming pool.

The University of Brighton formally commissioned 60 solar panels at its Eastbourne campus yesterday.

They will create enough electricity to heat the campus's swimming pool and form one of the largest solar thermal installations in Europe.

The glass tube panels, which will be on the pool's roof, are expected to last 35 years and will prevent the university producing about 30 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide a year.

They take up an area of more than 180sqm and will produce more energy per square metre per year than any other commercially available panel in the world.

The project cost a total of £150,000 and will help the university meet targets set out by the eco-friendly University Carbon Club, of which Brighton is a member.

Vice-chancellor Julian Crampton said: "We were pleased to incorporate environmentally-friendly power generation as part of the university's energy portfolio.

"We will also be using the solar panels as a research tool to look at how much energy they absorb and how much is converted into electricity."

A display unit showing the amount of energy saved by the panels in kilowatt hours has been built in the pool foyer. Pro-vice-chancellor Stuart Laing and BBC South-East weather presenter Kaddy Lee-Preston unveiled a display unit and gave speeches about the importance of the project and sustainable energy.

Guests were then invited on to the roof for a tour of the panels before they enjoyed a buffet lunch.

A Clear Skies Government grant paid for half the cost of buying and installing the panels.