Six Oldham schools are among the first 100 in England to have Great British Energy-funded solar panels fitted, the government has said. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero says the panels are already cutting bills, with around 250 schools and colleges due to have installations completed by the summer.

The Oldham schools named on the government's list of 100 are Horton Mill Community Primary School, Littlemoor Primary School, Lyndhurst Primary and Nursery School, Oasis Academy Leesbrook, Oasis Academy Clarksfield and Oasis Academy Oldham.

Great British Energy and the government have concentrated the programme on schools and colleges in areas of deprivation, mainly in the North East, West Midlands and North West, with at least 10 schools in each region of England. Tameside College, which has an OL6 postcode and is listed under Tameside council, is also among the 100.

Across the roughly 250 schools and colleges taking part, the government estimates combined savings of up to £220 million over the lifetime of the panels. It says that money can be reinvested in classrooms rather than spent on energy.

The wider programme is investing up to £255 million to install solar panels and complementary technology, including batteries, at around 250 schools and colleges, around 260 NHS sites and several military sites. The government estimates lifetime savings of up to £520 million across schools and NHS sites alone.

The figures come with caveats. The government says the lifetime savings are calculated on total project value including match-funding, using assumptions agreed with delivery partners, and are undiscounted and net of operating costs. It warns they remain uncertain because they depend on factors such as future electricity retail prices.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: "Great British Energy has now helped 100 schools and colleges to save money on bills, meaning more money for textbooks and technology."

He added: "Across the country, solar panels are going up on rooftops to power classrooms with clean, homegrown power."

Dan McGrail, chief executive of Great British Energy, said reaching 100 schools was "an important milestone" and that the organisation's Local Power Plan would build on it, with the aim that "by 2030, every community in the UK will have the opportunity to own and benefit from a local energy project."

Education Minister Josh MacAlister said schools and colleges were saving thousands on their energy bills, with the money going back into education. He said solar panels were "not just good for the planet" but an investment that keeps paying back into schools.

The announcement follows the publication last month of the £1 billion Local Power Plan, intended to let communities own and control clean energy projects, and the Education Estates Strategy, which sets out a decade of work to improve school buildings.

Each region in the scheme includes a further education college that will work with contractors to promote careers in renewables, through work placements, skills bootcamps and workshops. The government also points to curriculum reforms designed to strengthen climate and sustainability education, and to its Sustainability Support Programme, which it says will help education settings with climate action plans until at least 2030.

Helen Khinich, headteacher of Kilburn Grange School in Brent, one of the schools in the first 100, said her school had cut electricity use by 35% over the past 12 months and that 28 solar panels on its roof are projected to save a further £3,000 a year.

Alun Williams, chief executive of the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership Trust, said Peasedown St John's Primary School had been "delighted" to take part and that savings were already being reinvested in resources for children.