Installing at Mount Kelly Prep
We’re celebrating the fifth year of our Community Solar investment and generation across the Tamar Valley with an additional 100kW installation. It’s on the roof of the 50m pool of the Mount Kelly Swim Centre.
Our Host Sites
Working with local organisations we’ve installed 425kW of community owned solar PV across six sites.
- Abbey Garden Machinery, Tavistock
- Mount Kelly College, Tavistock
- Mount Kelly Prep, Tavistock
- Mount Kelly Swim Centre, Tavistock
- Carbeile Junior School, Torpoint
- Plymstock School, Plymstock
- Tesco Stores, Callington
Click here to see a graph of the latest generation.
Why is Community Solar Important
The installations are owned by our community, and are managed and maintained by Tamar Energy Community (TEC).
Community solar brings many benefits to our community and local economy:
- Our host sites benefit from reduced cost electricity. As community generators a proportion of their energy needs are generated locally from renewable sources which is good for our planet, and they can promote the benefits of renewables to their stakeholders. We can also work with them to reduce their energy usage in other ways as well.
- Our local community has the opportunity to invest in, and co-own the installation by purchasing community shares, and receive a fair rate of return.
- The money which would otherwise have been paid by host sites (for their solar energy) to national and international energy companies is paid to TEC, a community benefit society, and retained in the local economy.
- Any surplus from our community solar goes into our Community Energy Fund and is used to alleviate fuel poverty across the area.
Kate Royston, TEC’s Community Solar project developer: “We’re immensely proud that we’ve been able to add to our first community generation projects! It’s been hard work but very worthwhile and we look forward to developing more projects in the future”.
Funding the projects
Our initial portfolio was funded by our local Community Solar Seed Loan investors who loaned us £118,000 to help make sure everything was installed in time and Cornwall’s Low Carbon Society who loaned us £285,000.
Last autumn we launched our Community Solar Share offer to enable TEC to pay back the Low Carbon Society Loan and our Community Solar Seed Loan investors … and ensure wider community ownership. £322,000 was raised in a few weeks, and we’re grateful to our new community investors. You can find out more about our first community solar share offer here.
Making our Community Solar possible
Our Community Solar projects would not have been possible without the help of our valued installers Sungift Energy and ZLC Energy, our legal support from Bright Solicitors, the work of our volunteers, grants from the Devon County Council and Regen Accelerator Programme and importantly our Rural Community Energy Fund Grant of £20,000. This enabled us to work with our consultants from Communities for Renewables and Plymouth Energy Community; and of course our investors.
If you’d like to get more involved with our community solar please email us at hello@tamarenergycommunity.com or call on 07969 569 444.