As you may know, we’re on a mission to raise £350,000 in community investment to fund the installation of solar panels at Wellington School in Timperley. This will save the school money on their electricity bills, meaning they’ll have more to spend on education, as well as reducing their carbon footprint.
The share offer is open to individuals and businesses and the minimum investment is £100. We’re planning to pay annual share interest at 5% from 2025 and repay capital in instalments over 10 years. Please note that these projections are subject to the performance of the Society and capital is at risk.
We’ve been out and about promoting the share offer at a range of events including Didsbury Festival, the Northern Sustainability Summit (pictured below), and the MMU Sustainability Festival, as well as delivering leaflets in the Wellington School neighbourhood.
Thanks so much to everyone who has invested with us! Your support is much appreciated. We’ve raised £48,400 so far, so we’re making good progress towards the Minimum target but still have a long way to go before we reach £350,000!
However, we have plenty more community engagement lined up over the next couple of weeks. We’re meeting the school’s eco-committee today and talking about our project at the school’s upcoming open day, at Timperley Sports Club and at Altrincham Festival.
It’s our most ambitious share offer yet so we’d be really grateful for your help to get the message out to anyone else who might be interested in investing. You can share our posts on social media (on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) and download the share offer from our Invest page.
To mark World Environment Day on 5 June, GMCR has launched a share offer to fund the largest community-owned solar array in Greater Manchester.
The solar array at Wellington School in Timperley will cover the school roofs with 946 solar panels and generate enough electricity to make over 16 million cups of tea a year [2]. This will help the school save money on their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint.
Greater Manchester Community Renewables (GMCR) was set up in 2015 and has over 230 members who have funded solar arrays at eight primary schools in Salford and Bury, and a community centre in Trafford. The solar panels have so far generated enough electricity to charge over 65 million smartphones, saved over £70,000 on their energy bills and prevented 300 tonnes of carbon emissions from polluting power stations. [3]
Kate Eldridge, Director of GMCR said:
“Today, we’re launching our most ambitious share offer yet to raise £350,000 to fund a solar array at Wellington School.
“Our project has shown that when people come together we can make a real difference to the environment and the local community.
“With your help another school will soon be able to benefit from clean, cheap renewable energy.
“By investing as little as £100, you can support the transition to a sustainable future ”
The community share offer is open to individuals, businesses and organisations. Anyone who buys shares will be eligible for share interest of up to 5% and GMCR aims to repay the shares over the next ten years. Profits are donated to a community fund to support carbon reduction, energy efficiency and environmental education. The share offer is open until 3 July 2023. Those interested in investing should read the Share Offer fully and take appropriate financial advice.
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 1.3 million kWh of clean electricity to date. 65 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 383 kWp solar array at Wellington School will more than double the size of our project. In the first full year of operation, we expect that our ten Sites will:
We have lots to update you on since our last newsletter. While our community-owned solar panels have not been at their most productive during the Winter, our volunteers have been busy!
Preparing a new share offer As you may know, our engagement with potential new site partners paused during the pandemic as schools were incredibly busy with managing the day to day impacts of Covid.
However, since then, the sharp increase in electricity prices has prompted a number of schools to contact GMCR to explore how we could support them to reduce their energy bills and carbon footprint with solar panels. Conversations have been held with numerous educational and community centres. We’ve also built a positive dialogue with a Solar for GM Faiths project, who we hope to work with in the coming years.
In the meantime, one large secondary school has agreed in principle to partner with us now and so we are preparing for a new share offer this summer. This is a particularly exciting project because:
Installing the maximum number of panels at this site will more than double our solar capacity; and
Raising the funds for this will result in our biggest share offer ever – almost the same as our first three share offers combined!
Please let us know if you’d be interested in investing in our new share offer by completing our 2023 pre-share offer survey.
Solar performance of existing sites In the period January to March 2023, our nine solar arrays generated 36,272 kWh of electricity, enough to make 2 million cups of tea and save over 8 tonnes of carbon emissions.
Our site partners used 31,797 kWh (88% of generation) and collectively saved £6,155 on their electricity bills this quarter.
GMCR Energy Savers In the Winter months, our partner in the GMCR Energy Savers project, the Groundwork Green Doctors, have been supporting households in Salford and Trafford with energy saving advice. We also have some funding from Electricity North West for energy audits at our sites to enable them to understand their energy use and ways to save energy. We have now selected a partner for this work and will be offering the audits to our site partners shortly.
Warm Homes campaign GMCR is supporting Friends of the Earth’s United for Warm Homes campaign. The campaign is calling for a nationwide retrofit programme, a shift from fossil fuels to renewables, and urgent financial support for people struggling with their energy bills.
If you’d like to show your support for the campaign, you can sign a petition here. If your community group / church / business would like to show support for the campaign, please contact Kate on info@gmcr.org.uk
Spreading the word We continue to spread the word about our project. Since we last wrote to you we attended the Stockport Fair Trade Fair and spoke to the Business Green Scene group at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Bury Climate Action about our project.
We would be most grateful if you could help us promote our new share offer by asking friends and family to subscribe to our newsletter or to follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
With energy prices reaching record highs amid a cost-of-living crisis, a greater number of people across the UK are entering fuel poverty.
Fuel poverty refers to a household that cannot meet its fuel costs which tend to be above the national average. It most commonly impacts low-income individuals with energy inefficient homes leading to high energy usage. Poor insulation is one of the principal causes of fuel poverty as a significant amount of energy is wasted in households living in fuel poverty.
Why is this an issue?
With increasing living costs, it is estimated that more than 1 in 3 households could be in fuel poverty from October 2022. This is concerning since those living in fuel poverty are more susceptible to illness caused by damp and cold homes, such as respiratory diseases, cardiovascular stress, exacerbated asthma symptoms, and mental health implications.
Furthermore, there are socio-political issues associated with fuel poverty since neighbourhoods characterised by poor housing tend to be populated by people of colour, young people, or those with disabilities. This represents a significant inequality in terms of health and quality of housing. As an example, the neighbourhoods which will struggle the most with the energy crisis, known as energy crisis hotspots, represent 21% of people of colour compared to just 11% of white people. It is also estimated that 900,000 English households with a disabled resident are in fuel poverty, with 3.5 million young people living in energy crisis hotspots.
For more detail on Fuel Poverty see Friends of the Earth’s report. A map of fuel poverty hot spots across the UK has also been collated to help local authorities focus their action.
What’s the solution?
The solution needs to be better quality housing and the provision of insulation for properties that are able to take it on. There are over 4.4 million homes across England and Wales that qualify for cavity wall insulation but don’t have it, and a further 4.8 million without suitable loft insulation.
Households in fuel poverty are generally unable to afford insulation, therefore a campaign to improve the quality of housing needs to come from a government level. Subsidies and grants for household insulation need to be issued alongside educational campaigns raising awareness of the benefits properly insulated properties can bring. If insulation is a distant and unaffordable concept to millions of households across the UK, more and more people will fall into fuel poverty and experience the bleak consequences of it.
Friends of the Earth has launched its United for Warm Homes Campaign this September. One of its three campaign calls is to a nationwide insulation programme.
The other two calls are for:
Urgent additional financial support to keep people warm– see our list of support available in Greater Manchester.
Permanent fixes to our failed energy system.
If you would like to join us please get in touch – office@manchesterfoe.org.uk and come along to one of our meetings – see our calendar.
Note from GMCR: You can find more energy saving actions at our Energy Actions page!
The Local Mag for Irlam, Cadishead, Hollins Green, Rixton, Glazebrook and Culcheth kindly covered our story about the solar powered stop watch at Fiddlers Lane Primary School.
Thank you to our members who send us coverage when they see it.
Children and staff at Fiddlers Lane Primary School are now the proud owners of a solar-powered stopwatch, having received grant funding from Greater Manchester Community Renewables (GMCR).
Ann McQuirk, Business Manager at Fiddlers Lane Primary School said:
“The solar-powered stop watch has been well received by children and teachers alike – we think it’s wonderful! The children use it every day going around the track to time themselves. The solar-powered stopwatch is an ongoing partnership with GMCR who have once again supported our school by funding these environmental projects which otherwise would not have happened.”
The school was previously awarded funding from GMCR in 2020 for an in-school recycling scheme and cameras for the bird boxes.
Ian Whitehouse, Site Manager at the school said:
“We spent our first grant from GMCR on recycling facilities and two camera bird boxes; one to replace the broken one for the Nursery and another for the older children to see.”
The school had community-owned solar panels installed by GMCR back in 2016. Since then, the panels have generated 140,000 kWh – that’s enough green electricity to charge over 14 million smartphones. Having solar panels means the school has also saved thousands of pounds on their energy bills, as well as showing the children real life solutions to the climate crisis.
Kate Eldridge, Director of GMCR, said:
“We’re delighted to be able to make a further award from our Community Fund to Fiddlers Lane Primary School. The school has embraced all aspects of sustainability from looking at the efficiency of their building to engaging the pupils in environmental issues. It’s really inspiring and we are happy to support them where we can.”
GMCR is a community energy scheme, run entirely by volunteers and owned by members of the community. Their community fund comprises GMCR’s profits and donations from GMCR members. GMCR’s Community Fund is open to applications for carbon reduction and environmental education projects in the local area.
GMCR is also offering energy saving advice to anyone in the local community who is looking to save some money on their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint. They’ve teamed up with Groundwork, a charity providing free support, which ranges from advice on reducing your energy use, advice on damp, mould and condensation, and help to access any grants you may be entitled to. You can contact the Groundwork Green Doctors free on 0800 090 3638.
ENDS
Notes to the editor
1. Photo attached of the Fiddlers Lane solar powered stop watch, featuring the Headteacher Sarah Cooper (right) and the School Business Manager Ann McQuirk (left).
2. 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. It has 9 solar arrays, totalling c. 350 kWp capacity.
3. The generation meter reading taken at Fiddlers Lane Primary School on 13 June 2022 was 143,549kWh. This equates to saving c. 35 tonnes CO2 since the panels were installed by displacing electricity drawn from the grid.
4. 14 million smartphones charged is calculated based on 143,549kWh electricity generated by GMCR at Fiddlers Lane to date, a phone with a 2000mAh battery and 5V charger using 0.01kwh for a full charge.
5. Fiddlers Lane Primary School receive a discount on the electricity they receive from the GMCR solar panels compared to the price charged by their main supplier. Since the panels were installed they have saved £3,995.
6. Groundwork is a federation of charities mobilising practical community action on poverty and the environment across the UK. They’re passionate about creating a future where every neighbourhood is vibrant and green, every community is strong and able to shape its own destiny and no-one is held back by their background or circumstances.
All Greater Manchester residents can call the Groundwork Energyworks team free on 0800 090 3638 for energy saving advice and support.
7. The GMCR Energy Savers project is funded by Electricity North West’s Powering our Communities fund and delivered by Groundwork.
As Directors of a solar energy project, we always look forward to Spring as the days get longer and our panels see more sunshine. This year it feels particularly optimistic as the vaccines roll out and the prospect of seeing friends outside in the warm weather is on the horizon.
Solar performance in the previous quarter October to December is not the sunniest time of the year, so we don’t expect to generate a lot of electricity. Our monitoring system shows that during this period in 2020 we generated 24MWh across our 9 solar arrays, saving 6 tonnes of CO2.
This brings the total for life of the project to 700MWh, enough to make over 38 million cups of tea, saving almost 200 tonnes CO2!
Community Fund At GMCR’s AGM in September 2020, members agreed to donate £6,000 to a community fund to be used for carbon reduction and/or environmental education. This is made up of GMCR profits and donations from our members. We’re offering £1,000 each to our first 6 sites to spend on carbon reduction and environmental education projects.
In 2020, we presented Fiddlers Lane Primary School with a cheque for £1,000 from the previous year’s Community Fund award. The school has spent it on recycling facilities and camera bird boxes.
GMCR Energy Savers GMCR is offering energy saving advice and support to parents, teachers and local families. If you live in Irlam and Cadishead, Ordsall, Swinton, Little Hulton, Monton, Partington or Chesham and would like to speak to someone in confidence about your energy bills, or just want to find out how you can keep warm and reduce your carbon footprint, you can call the team of Groundwork Green Doctors on 0800 090 3638 or email energyworks@groundwork.org.uk. Simply quote GMCR as a reference to access your free personalised advice.
Now that the roadmap out of lockdown has been published, we’re looking forward to arranging energy saving events and activities in summer. Watch this space!
Now the kids have gone back to school, what better time than to look at how you can save a few pounds on your heating and electricity bills?
A new project has launched to help Salford residents save money, energy and the environment this Spring. Telephone advice and support is available from a team of Groundwork Green Doctors, who Salford residents can call free Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm and Friday 9am to 12pm on 0800 090 3638.
The Groundwork Green Doctors recently supported Grace, who had been furloughed over lockdown. With her reduced income and small amount of benefits she has been struggling whilst also home schooling her son and using a lot more gas and electric. The Green Doctor was able to refer her to National Energy Action who were able to give her a £140 voucher for her gas due to missing out on the warm home discount. The Green Doctor gave her some advice on simple ways to reduce her energy bills such as turning the thermostat and radiator valves down to make her gas last longer on the meters and giving her some free energy saving small measures such as LED lightbulbs. The Green Doctor spoke to United Utilities with her, and got her water rates capped for this year’s and last year’s bill, which removed £459.31 off her debt immediately. We were then able to set up an affordable weekly direct debit which pays for her current water bill and something towards the debt. United Utilities have also put her on a payment match scheme so if Grace keeps up her fortnightly payments over the next few years, United Utilities will deduct a further £2,210 off her debt.
Grace said “Groundwork is a fantastic organisation, they are there to help, and the Green Doctor has helped me get through this latest cold spell and during lockdown which has been a huge relief during this difficult time and I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted.”
The GMCR Energy Savers project has been set up by Greater Manchester Community Renewables (GMCR), a volunteer-led project which has installed community owned solar arrays on seven Salford Schools. The energy saving initiative has been funded by Electricity North West and will be delivered by the Energyworks team, which is part of Groundwork Greater Manchester.
Kate Eldridge, Director of GMCR said “Over the past 5 years we have been supporting schools in Salford to cut their energy bills and carbon footprints by having solar panels installed. We started the GMCR Energy Savers project because we wanted to bring similar benefits to everyone in the community.”
Suzanne Barningham, Energyworks Manager at Groundwork Greater Manchester said “Last year we worked with more than 3,000 people who saved over £2 million between them by saving energy. In 2021 you could be one of those people. Our friendly team of Green Doctors is only a phone call away.”
Helen Seagrave, Community Energy Manager at Electricity North West, added: “The GMCR Energy Savers project will support families to become more efficient and achieve all the benefits that come with reducing the amount of energy that we consume.
“Our Empowering our Communities Fund takes applications from community groups across the North West who aim to tackle energy-related issues at a local level, especially those that want to reduce their carbon footprint.”
GMCR has installed community-owned solar panels on seven schools in Salford, a school in Bury and a community centre in Partington. Over the life of the project the solar panels have generated enough electricity to make almost 37 million cups of tea, preventing 180 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and cutting energy bills at the schools and community centre by a total of £17,000.
ENDS
Notes to the editor
1. Groundwork is a federation of charities mobilising practical community action on poverty and the environment across the UK. They’re passionate about creating a future where every neighbourhood is vibrant and green, every community is strong and able to shape its own destiny and no-one is held back by their background or circumstances.
Salford residents can call the Groundwork Energyworks team free on 0800 090 3638 for energy saving advice and support, and quote GMCR as a reference.
2. 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. It has 9 solar arrays, totalling c. 350 kWp capacity. For more information visit www.gmcr.org.uk or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
3. Electricity North West is the region’s electricity distribution network operator. They’re proud to power the lives of five million people in the North West. From heating homes to charging cars and streaming TV shows, they work around the clock to keep you switched on for today and tomorrow.
They’re investing £1.8bn from 2015-2023 in the overhead lines and underground cables that serve the region and last year delivered the best reliability ever seen in the North West.
As part of the plan, they’ve also committed to invest £63.5m to drive down carbon emissions and help businesses, customers and colleagues do the same.
Electricity North West has become the first carbon literate distribution network operator and has committed to a carbon budget to meet zero carbon by 2038 for their own carbon emissions which will see 10% year on year decrease in emissions
Visit for more information and follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. During a power cut or other emergency, check for updates online or call 105.
This summer, our community owned PV panels generated 105 MWh, saving 25 tonnes of CO2 (based on meter readings taken in September 2020). It’s great to see our 2019 installations performing well at the sunniest time of year!
That brings the total generation for the life of the project to 673 MWh, saving 180 tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to planting 235 acres of forest! (source: EPA).
As mentioned previously, Electricity North West has awarded GMCR a grant to support our sites and their local communities to save energy and save carbon. We are excited to be working with Groundwork to deliver a programme of fully funded activities; which include assemblies, workshops, energy quizzes and games. Through this partnership, the GMCR Energy Savers project will also provide home visits and telephone support for those who are struggling with their energy costs.
As you can imagine, delivering community events hasn’t been possible during the pandemic; in Greater Manchester we’ve had localised restrictions in place since the end of July 2020. Accordingly we’ll be focusing on getting the message to households through school and community communication channels.
Virtual events
We’ve been along to a few virtual events, including a volunteers virtual trip to the “alternative COP26”, a civil society event taking place even though the UN climate talks have been postponed a year. We spoke at the Manchester Environmental Education Network AGM and at the North West Friends of the Earth event “What if all energy was green energy?” in August. You can watch the video of Kate’s What If talk here.
Update on 2019 installations
Our solar arrays at Monton Green, Springwood and Chesham primary schools were successfully registered for the Feed-in Tariff by the end of March 2020 deadline. All the sites are now generating electricity. However, export metering at Chesham and Springwood is not yet in place due to delays getting the existing meters reconfigured for export.
Our installation at Chesham Primary School, Bury
Broader solar performance
Our total solar generation to date is 568MWh*, enough to make over 31 million cups of tea! This translates into 156 tonnes CO2 saved.
During lockdown, a lower proportion of the electricity generated has been used onsite than we would normally expect as some of our sites were closed, and others were open for keyworkers’ children only. We normally expect to see 75% used onsite – between March and July, this fell to around 50%, but it’s likely to return to normal as our sites reopen.
GMCR Energy Savers
In our last newsletter we shared the exciting news that we’ve been awarded grant funding to support our site partners and their local communities to save energy and reduce carbon.
Following a short tender process, we’ve selected Groundwork to deliver the community engagement work. Each of our sites will be offered a fully funded programme of activities tailored to their needs, all of which will be carefully managed to comply with social distancing and any lockdown restrictions in place at that time.
Activities in schools and at local community venues could include assemblies, workshops and information packs, energy saving pledges, energy quizzes and games such as energy bingo. We’re also hoping to provide a limited number of home visits, with telephone support available for those who are struggling with their energy costs.
In addition, Groundwork will provide training sessions to GMCR volunteers about energy saving and to increase awareness of how vulnerable people can be supported.
We’ll also be offering each site a free energy assessment so they can consider how to reduce the energy demand of their building.
Plans for the future
At our strategy meeting earlier in the year, we agreed that, even though the Feed-in Tariff scheme had closed to new entrants, carefully selected new solar projects will just about break even. We are keeping this under close review, particularly in light of recent changes to electricity price projections.
Along with many solar installers and funders, we’ve responded to a request for information from Greater Manchester Combined Authority, who are interested in having solar panels installed on 76 sites across the city region. We set out how much money they could save as well as details of our experience and social and environmental credentials. Fingers crossed this will result in some new sites for GMCR!
Finally, special thanks to our volunteers who have continued to support us through the pandemic.
*Total generation since the project started based on June 2020 meter readings
