Cheshire West and Chester Leisure Centres Solar PV
Chester
Our Story
Chester Community Energy Ltd started life as the energy working party of Transition Chester, the local group campaigning for a transition to a low carbon economy. They gave us a loan of £300 to set up a Community Benefit Society and so we were ready to go!
The founding directors were an environmental economist, a retired engineer and retired architect with a solicitor as company secretary, so we thought we were well qualified but still faced many challenges in the months and years ahead.
We had contacts in the Cheshire West and Chester Council and with a nearby community energy organisation, Low Carbon Lymm, who provided great help by pre-registering our first project for Feed in Tariff. From these discussions we came up with an idea for the first project: a 50kw capacity solar array on the roof of a leisure centre near the centre of Chester.
Having been successful in applying for the development grant aid, we went through the process of getting detailed layouts, tenders, leases, power purchase agreements, a business plan, registering for VAT and issue a share offer; a monumental task which proved to be a huge learning curve for all of us.
The Government Feed in Tariff coupled with selling all of the generated electricity to the leisure centre, contributed to the financial success of the project, and as such, allowed us to follow up with a further two installations as different leisure centres in Chester.
The Challenge
Given the nature of the project, and despite having the right minds on board, we faced many challenges along the way, but it was a great learning curve for us none the less.
As mentioned above, the process of putting together the business plan, arranging leases and power purchase agreements, was tough and it took up a lot of time and resources. It’s vital to not underestimate this task.
Funding was a huge determining factor for this project, therefore researching grants that were available to us was paramount to ensure the financial viability of the project. The development grant aid gave us the kickstart funding we needed, and gave invaluable advice on our first share issue. We successfully raised £180,000 and we now have 90 member shareholders, many of whom are active in the organisation.
It’s critical to source a specialist contractor with this type of project. We were fortunate to work with the same company on all three projects, by tender on the first one and by negotiation on the next two. They were great in working around timescales and arrangements with building managers to produce installations with good performance, on time and on budget.
Once the installations have been built, it’s important to establish and effective monitoring system which keeps everyone informed about progress and highlighting issues before they become a problem.
Our Solution
While our initial motivation was to play a part in reducing local carbon emissions, we have also now seen the broader benefits of Community Energy. We now have 90 members who have participated in the running of the organisation and setting our priorities for further projects.
To date, 428 Megawatt Hours of electricity has been generated and over 100 tonnes of CO2 emissions have been saved. The installations are monitored by a system that was installed with the solar PV panels, which can be easily accessed and shared online, this allows us to highlight any issues with the performance of the panels.
The Feed in Tariff and sale of electricity provides a predictable income which has allowed us to invest in future projects and to set up a Community Benefit Fund, now £5,000 each year, to help community groups with their own energy saving projects.
We’ve also been able to explore opportunities to work in local schools and fund new projects such as LED lighting in community buildings, and a major community owned solar farm near Chester, with the hope that it forms a model for future collaboration on larger projects.