At the recent Labour party conference, our director Ali Abbas had the opportunity to address the delegates about the support we want to see from the government. You can find a copy of his speech below.

My name is Ali, and in 2015 I helped to found Greater Manchester Community Renewables as a practical way of delivering carbon reductions in our local area.  Since then we’ve raised £ ¾ million in community shares from over 300 members, which we’ve used to install solar arrays on 9 schools and a community centre.  

A couple of quick stats: so far, we’ve generated 2,000 MWh of clean electricity, which is enough to make over 100 million cups of tea, and has prevented over 700 tonnes of carbon emissions.  We’ve also saved our partners a total of £180,000 on their energy bills, and created a £60,000 community fund to support environmental education and carbon saving initiatives.

As Michaela said, community energy is a magical thing: it covers a wide range of activities that are essential to decarbonising our society and tackling fuel poverty – not just generating energy but anything from retrofit and energy efficiency advice to EV charging points and local heat networks.

It delivers multiple benefits – it’s not just about increasing renewable generation and reducing carbon emissions, it’s also about engaging and empowering communities – from raising awareness about the climate emergency to demonstrating practical solutions that benefit the local community and act as a beacon of hope to inspire more people to take climate action.

We all know that we’re not on track to meet our national carbon budgets – never mind a fair and equitable carbon budget that doesn’t rely on false solutions like burning trees in power stations, heroic assumptions about unproven technologies like carbon capture and storage, and the fantasy economics and toxic legacy of nuclear power which has never even come close to being built on time and on budget.

But I digress – we all know we need to do more faster, and community energy has the potential to deliver at pace in every neighbourhood.  It also provides a unique way of leveraging the skills and expertise within local communities and the assets of those who want to use some of their savings to make a positive difference.  I was reading just yesterday that UK households have a total of over £1.5 trillion of cash savings – mobilising even a small fraction of that could be transformational.

So it’s great to see the focus that the Government is giving to community energy as part of the Local Power Plan.

One of the key opportunities is in building partnerships between local authorities and the community energy sector – so we have fewer councils working in silos, unwilling to engage and putting barriers in the way of progress (I’m not going to name names), and more councils working in partnership with groups like ours to make best use of our complementary strengths to drive more rapid deployment.  

Some of the ways the Local Power Plan could do this include encouraging local authorities:

• To enter in cooperation agreements with community energy groups, like the one we had with Salford Council when we were first starting out
• Secondly, to work with us to develop a joined-up project pipeline, and explore the joint delivery of energy services such as energy advice or retrofit assessments
• Thirdly, to procure electricity from community energy assets through long-term Power Purchase Agreements
• And fourthly, to offer community energy projects access to local authority land or buildings for new projects or shared ownership of existing renewable energy assets.

One of the challenges we’ve faced is how to ensure that more deprived areas can get the full benefits of community energy.  We’ve been able to fund solar arrays on schools in deprived communities with investment from wealthier areas, and we’ve offered energy efficiency advice in those communities – but there’s no direct financial benefit to local residents because we aren’t able to sell surplus electricity from our solar arrays to consumers.  

So we’re in the crazy situation where we have to sell any surplus to a large energy company for say 8p a unit who then sell it on to their customers for 24p a unit – when we could be selling it direct to local people at say 12p a unit – halving the cost they pay for their electricity and helping to make more projects more viable by increasing our export income by 50%.

As well as giving community energy groups the right and the means to sell the electricity we generate to local residents, there are several other ways the Government could help realise the potential of the community energy sector.

Grid connection can be a huge challenge: we’re lucky in Greater Manchester that this hasn’t been an issue for us yet, but we know it’s a blocker for energy generation projects in several parts of the country – and I understand the Government has committed to tackling this, which is great news.

In terms of planning permission, rooftop solar usually qualifies as permitted development, but for arrays over 50kW, we still need to apply to the local planning authority for prior approval.  For example, our latest array was just under 1,000 panels on a series of roofs at a secondary school – most were flat roofs and none were visible from neighbouring properties, but we still had to spend money getting site layout plans and elevations drawn up and getting the application submitted, and it added an extra couple of months to the project timeline.  Increasing the threshold for prior approval from 50kW to 250 or 500kW would have no cost to the Exchequer, reduce the burden on planning authorities, and help reduce the upfront costs for new rooftop solar projects.

Another challenge is developing an investable business model. We currently have this anomaly where large energy generators get a guaranteed long-term strike price for their electricity under the Contracts for Difference scheme – for example, EDF got a strike price of £90/MWh for Hinkley C, which is now worth £125/MWh due to inflation (that’s 2.5 times more than the latest offshore wind auction) – whereas community energy projects only have the Smart Export Guarantee to rely on, which gives no guarantee whatsoever of the price we’ll be paid – and that makes it incredibly difficult to predict future revenues.  We’d urge the Government to implement the proposal in the Local Electricity Bill for Ofgem to set a fair price for electricity exports from community energy schemes to give us the same certainty that the big generators get.

On fundraising, we’ve been fortunate so far in being able to raise the funds we need fairly easily – with many of our members investing because of the community and environmental benefits of the project and even choosing to waive their share interest so we can add it to our community fund.  However, if we’re going to scale up, we need to attract more investors who are looking for a return as well.  

One of my bugbears is that investments in community energy schemes used to qualify for investment tax relief, but when the Feed-in Tariff was introduced, the tax relief was withdrawn on the grounds that schemes were getting subsidised twice.  However, when the Feed-in Tariff was scrapped, the tax relief wasn’t reintroduced so we’re now in the bizarre situation where you can get tax relief on investing into many other community businesses like a local pub or leisure centre but not when you invest in a local clean energy project.  Reintroducing tax reliefs for community energy projects will help us leverage more of that £1.5 trillion of household savings to scale up our sector.

And I just wanted to quickly mention the solar supply chain.  In 2021, Sheffield Hallam University exposed the prevalence of Uyghur forced labour in the manufacture of the silicon used in solar panels.  Since then, we’ve tried to source panels from outside China to minimise that risk but it’s been really difficult to find reliable information about this.  Given the ambition to rapidly scale up solar deployment, it would be really helpful if the Government could introduce a certification scheme like the one in France which requires manufacturers to report the embodied carbon in their panels which in turn means they need to be transparent about their supply chains.

Finally, a couple of other helpful interventions include enabling shared ownership by establishing a community right to buy into renewable energy assets, encouraging long-term power purchase agreements between public sector and community energy projects, and increasing the availability of affordable long-term finance to support the refinancing of the short-term capital loans offered in the Local Power Plan.

The Local Power Plan has the potential to be transformative, giving local people and institutions a stake in the energy system, enabling people to become part of the solution rather than being made to feel that they are always just part of the problem, and bringing people with us on this essential transition to a cleaner, healthier, zero-carbon future.  

We look forward to working with local and national Government to play our part in making this happen.

When Greater Manchester Community Renewables (GMCR) was formed, we chose to start out with rooftop solar. 

We live in a large urban area, so there were many more opportunities for rooftop solar than ground mounted solar or wind, and the technology was more straightforward to deliver than micro-hydro power.

When kicking off a new project, full of energy and enthusiasm, you want to find partners to work with, who will host your panels and use the electricity you generate. But before you approach them you do need to have some idea of what you’re going to offer them. What do they get in return for sharing their roof space with you? Usually, cheaper electricity and carbon savings. But how much?

To work that out you need to know how much your solar array will generate and an approximation of what your expected costs will be.  

How many solar panels will fit on a roof

When our project started we used to measure roofs with the ruler on Google Earth and work out how many panels would fit on, look at MCS datasets to work out how efficient they would be at that pitch and orientation, and finally how much the array would generate. Fortunately, technology has moved on since then and there are now websites which make this process a lot easier! 

OpenSolar is a free online tool you can use to assess what size of solar array is suitable for a building based on its roof space and its electricity demand.  You can choose from a range of different panel makes and models, and then you just ‘drag and drop’ to design your solar array.  Not only that, it will also estimate how much of the solar electricity the building will use and how much the system could cost to install.

A couple of tips:

• Solar panels can be installed on flat or pitched roofs. If you choose the 3D view in OpenSolar, it will automatically align the panels to fit the roof pitch and orientation.
• Keep an eye out for trees and other buildings that might cause shading problems.
• It’s more expensive to install solar panels on slate roofs than on tiled roofs, flat roofs or corrugated metal roofs. 
• The default electricity profile on OpenSolar is for a domestic property.  For more accurate modelling, you can enter monthly or annual electricity usage data and configure the demand profile – for example, schools tend to use lots of electricity during the week and less at evenings and weekends when they’re closed.

We always work closely with our installer, who will propose a design for the array based on their experience.  Even at the desktop stage, they have an eye for whether a particular roof will be suitable.  They provide estimates for generation, onsite electricity usage (based on site data) and up to date market pricing. We rely on their projections for our final modelling.

However, OpenSolar is a great tool to use as a rough guide to help work out what our proposition is going to be. 

Wellington School celebration event

On Thursday 18th April, Wellington School hosted an event to celebrate the successful installation of our new 388 kWp solar array. The new “rooftop powerstation” was made possible by GMCR and of course the wonderful community who have invested over £350,000 to make the project a reality.

On the night we heard from the school’s eco-committee who expressed their delight at having renewables on their roofs and how this forms part of their education in class.

The joint event held by Altrincham Interfaith Group and GMCR was also an opportunity to discuss how to reduce carbon pollution from other local buildings. Richard Baker from Middleton Community Power and Solar for GM Faiths spoke about the key questions facing places of worship as they grapple to decarbonise their (often old and inefficient) buildings. Sukhbir Singh spoke about his personal journey toward a low carbon lifestyle and the hidden challenges faced when trying to retrofit your house.

It was fantastic to hear from so many concerned residents, parents and organisations from around the area who gave their support to the initiative. We look forward to working with Wellington School over the lifespan of the project.

Solar performance

In the period January to March 2024, our ten solar arrays generated 64,583 kWh of electricity. This is 7.9% below our projections, as February/March were even less sunny than usual, but 78% more than last year, due to the switch on of the array at Wellington School in mid February.  

This was enough to make 3.5 million cups of tea and save 24 tonnes of CO2. Our site partners used 47,499 kWh (74% of generation) and collectively saved £3,770 on their electricity bills this quarter.

Thank you for your support!

We hope you’re keeping well, have had a good start to the year, and are starting to enjoy the slightly longer and lighter days.

We have some bits to update you on since our last newsletter. Our solar panels and our volunteers have still been working away during the colder months!

Wellington School Completion
We’re pleased to confirm the completion of the Wellington School installation, in Timperley! All solar panels are now up and producing low-carbon energy for the site, which is fantastic. It’s officially our largest site, and the school buildings are now home to 946 solar panels, generating enough electricity each year to make over 16 million cups of tea. 

Here’s photo of Kate and Ali (two of our Directors) on the roof with Ben and Phil from NPS Solar and Gemma from Wellington School. If you’d like to see more, check out this amazing drone footage – once you’ve opened the Google Photos page, click on the image to play the video.

Solar performance of existing sites
In the period October to December 2023, our nine solar arrays generated 24,428 kWh of electricity, enough to make 1.3 million cups of tea and save over 5 tonnes of CO₂. Our site partners used 20,732 kWh (85% of generation) and collectively saved £1,785 on their electricity bills this quarter.

Spreading the word
We continue to spread the word about our project, and would be most grateful if you could encourage friends and family to subscribe to our newsletter at our website or to follow us on Facebook or X (Twitter).

Thank you for your support!

Following a community share offer in summer 2023, local social enterprise Greater Manchester Community Renewables (GMCR) has installed the largest community-owned solar array in Greater Manchester at Wellington School in Timperley.

On World Environment Day 2023 (5 June) a share offer was launched with the aim of raising £350,000 in community investment. By 7 September the target had been reached and installation of the panels began during the Christmas break with the final section completed in February half term.

The school buildings are now home to 946 solar panels and will generate enough electricity each year to make over 16 million cups of tea [2]. The array, covering seven of the secondary school’s roofs, will reduce the school’s carbon footprint and save them thousands of pounds on their energy bills.

Stuart Beeley, Headteacher at Wellington School, said:

“The climate crisis is a key issue facing our society which will have a significant impact on the lives of our students. To be supplying classrooms and facilities with clean, renewable energy day-to-day is a fantastic achievement and testament to the hard work of everyone involved.

“Working with GMCR has not only made us more sustainable, we are also exploring how the solar array can be used in maths, geography and science lessons, as part of our mission to prepare our students for tomorrow’s global society.”

GMCR Director and Co-founder Kate Eldridge said:

“We’re really excited that this array is now up and running, and starting to help the school to save money and cut carbon.

“We want to say a huge thank you to everyone in the community who has invested in this project, and to the staff at Wellington School for their leadership and support throughout the process.

“It just goes to show what communities can achieve when we come together to tackle the climate crisis.”

GMCR now has solar arrays on ten sites. The arrays at their existing nine sites have collectively generated enough electricity to charge over 76 million smartphones, saved over £160,000 on their energy bills and prevented more than 350 tonnes of carbon emissions from polluting power stations. [3]

The solar array at Wellington School was funded through community shares purchased by 136 people and organisations, of which 83% are from Greater Manchester. This brings GMCR’s total membership to 328, who collectively own the solar arrays and decide how much of the profits to invest in new arrays or distribute as grants for eco-friendly projects.

To find out more about GMCR and any future share offers you can sign up for their newsletter at their website, www.gmcr.org.uk.

ENDS

Notes to the editor

1. Greater Manchester Community Renewables Limited (GMCR) is a community benefit society, set up and run by volunteers to install community-owned renewable energy across Greater Manchester.

2. 16 million cups of tea is calculated based on estimated generation of 300,000kWh, and using an ‘average kettle’ of 2200 Watts and 1.7L which takes around 4 minutes to boil.

3. GMCR’s solar arrays have generated 1.5 million kWh of clean electricity to date.  76 million smartphones is calculated using a smartphone battery of 4000mAh using 0.02kWh to fully charge.

CO₂ savings are calculated based on UK grid intensity for generation and transmission.

4. Installing a 388 kWp solar array at Wellington School has more than doubled the size of GMCR’s solar capacity (the existing 9 sites total c. 350kWp).  In the first full year of operation, we expect that our ten sites will:
–  generate 575,000 kWh of clean, green electricity
–  save approximately 80 tonnes of carbon dioxide

We hope you’re keeping well and are feeling reasonably festive, though days are a little shorter and darker at the moment.

We have some bits to update you on since our last newsletter. Our solar panels and our volunteers have all been busy and productive during the summer!

Share Offer Update
We’re pleased to share that the fundraising target for the Wellington School solar array has been achieved with the help of some impact investors. These are individuals and a foundation who are investing specifically for the positive impact on society that our GMCR project will have.  This means the installation work can now proceed!

Solar performance of existing sites
In the period July to September 2023, our nine solar arrays generated 94,326 kWh of electricity. This is broadly in line with budget and enough to make 5 million cups of tea and save over 21 tonnes of CO2.

Our site partners used 67,556 kWh (72% of generation) and collectively saved a massive £39,864 on their electricity bills this quarter!

Spreading the word
We continue to spread the word about our project, and would be most grateful if you could encourage friends and family to subscribe to our newsletter here or to follow us on Facebook or X (Twitter).

Thank you for your support!

With best wishes for the festive season,

On behalf of the GMCR Board

As you may be aware, the closing date for our share offer is tomorrow (Sunday 16 July). We had extended it by a few days while we were waiting for some of the permissions we need and it seems to have come round quickly!

We’ve had some good news this week in relation to permissions:
✅ Prior approval from the local planning authority
✅ Grid connection offer from Electricity North West, so we can export up to 200kW from the site if it’s not needed by the school

We’re in dialogue with the Department for Education about the lease of the roof airspace above the school, alongside the school and both parties’ solicitors.

We’ve raised £190,100 so far – this is more than we’ve ever raised in a single share offer! Thanks to everyone who has invested.

If we can get to £225,000, we can use some GMCR reserves and the new shares to install solar panels on two buildings at the school plus a further 75kW on a third roof area. There is room for more on that roof, so if we beat that target, even better!

We’ll keep you updated on how things go but if you are planning to invest and haven’t done so yet, now is the time!

We’ve reached a crucial time for our project to install a solar array at Wellington School.  We continue to wait for the planning permission, grid connection consent and Department for Education (DfE) approval.  We know the relevant authorities are looking at our applications, but we haven’t had their formal responses yet.

As you know, we extended the share offer period until Sunday 16 July to collect more investment while we wait for those permissions to come through.  We spent the weekend at the Sustainability Show where it was a pleasure to talk to like minded people about the project.  We had lots of volunteers helping out on the day and making further offers to support us – thank you!

We’ve raised £163,700 so far and have 6 days to go… Let’s keep spreading the word so we can get as many panels on the school roof as we can! All the details of the share offer together with the online application form can be found on our Invest page.

Thanks so much for your support!