Tag Archives: solar energy

Update on community energy in New Mills

27 Saturday Sep 2014

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You may remember this blog post posing the question of whether we need more community energy in New Mills. An overwhelming 90% of people thought we did.

There are a number of stages involved in getting community energy up and running. Broadly speaking they are:

  1. Decide on what type of energy project to develop
  2. Determine a suitable site
  3. Put in place the organisational infrastructure
  4. Raise investment
  5. Build the power station
  6. Generate clean, green power, manage the organisation and distribute dividends
  7. Repeat to reduce carbon emissions, increase energy security and create local jobs!

The good news is that there is now a small team from Transition New Mills working on this. And, having spoken to a number of people, we reckon that generating electricity from solar panels (‘solar PV’) on one or more large roofs is the best way to start. Why is this?

  • Lots of other people have done it so we can follow a well-worn path
  • The technology these days is fairly standard so it’s not likely to present many technical difficulties
  • It’s relatively cheap and provides good financial returns
  • There’s usually no need for planning permission
  • It’s not usually subject to much controversy.

Of course, none of the stages outlined above are simple and we need help. For some of the practical considerations, we’ve secured the partnership of an experienced and friendly solar installation company, Sustainable Energy Systems, whose involvement is vital in ensuring that sites are suitable and we can address technical issues. Together, we’ve been scouting out potentially suitable sites (i.e. large, broadly south-facing roofs in New Mills!) and approaching the people who look after them. Sometimes, finding the right people to talk to and getting a foot in the door is not always as easy as it might seem. Whilst of course it wouldn’t be right to give details of meetings and conversations we’ve had, I can say that one site that looked initially promising is unfortunately not appropriate. We’re currently engaged in discussions over one other potential site and we’re at the early stages of approaching others.

Also extremely helpful has been Ovesco. This organisation was formed by people from Transition Town Lewes and their first project was an installation of solar panels on the roof of a family-owned Sussex brewery. They have definitely been there, done that and have the contacts and expertise to prove it! Among other very useful pointers, they suggested that whilst our first priority is to realise the initial project, the medium-term game plan should be to operate several community-owned power stations so that we can afford for someone to devote a portion of their time to manage them (and their investors) and to develop further opportunities.

Watch this space for further updates as the project progresses. If you have any suggestions or want to get involved, feel free to get in contact via the usual channels or post a comment below.

Installing solar panels on a roof in New Mills

Installing solar panels on a roof in New Mills (mine!)

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Cheaper Solar Panels for your House?

11 Tuesday Feb 2014

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Sustainable Hayfield is exploring the scope for attracting significant discounts from solar power installers by bringing together households interested in having solar panels installed. Is this of interest to you?
Owners of solar panels get three distinct benefits:
  • a renewable source of electricity, reducing CO2 emissions and dependence on energy providers;
  • opportunity to become more self-sufficient in energy, and reduce bills significantly;
  • you generate an income stream by exporting electricity to ‘the grid’, currently about 15p per KWh, guaranteed for 20 years (a typical installation would have 2-4 kilowatts capacity).
That’s all very positive. The downside has been installation costs. Whilst costs for a typical house have fallen hugely – from around £15,000 ten years ago to £5-6,000 now – this is still a big sum, though they should last for 20-25 years with no problems.
Sustainable Hayfield has heard from installers they’d be very keen to talk, offering considerable reductions on normal prices, where they can arrange a number of installations together in a location. This is because it clearly reduces their costs (travel, scaffolding, more efficient use of time etc.). Sustainable Hayfield would like to bring together interested local households and approach a range of installers with an outline proposal for near-simultaneous installations i.e using the purchasing power of a ‘critical mass’ of consumers to lever savings.
Are you interested? Have you thought about solar power but been put off by the cost or because you’ve not known enough about the prospect? Why not join us in seeing what’s available? There’s absolutely no obligation at this stage, just an expression of interest in the idea. We already have a small number of local households who’ve registered interest, but we want more. That could include you, local friends and neighbours. It would be great if we could approach installers with 10, 20, 30 prospective installations, which we think would be a very attractive proposition to them.
If you’d like to register your outline interest, please contact Mike Crompton of Sustainable Hayfield (pmcrompton@gmail.com) (tel: 01663 744248) in the next 3- 4 weeks. The intention is to hold a meeting of those interested. We look forward to seeing what ‘people power’ might be able to achieve!

Time’s Up for Clock New Mills: Hazel Wins Her Prize!

27 Friday Dec 2013

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As winter starts to take its hold, it’s nice to reminisce about days spent on the hills as some of us were diligently clocking off the viewpoints that made up Clock New Mills.

For those who need a reminder, Clock New Mills was a walking challenge where participants walk to twelve (mostly elevated) places around New Mills from where the town can be seen (‘clocked’) and collect sponsorship money towards solar panels for New Mills School roof. (More details here: http://www.transitionnewmills.org/page8.htm)

It felt a joyous activity – a chance to revisit some familiar places, perhaps from different angles, and an opportunity for unexpected and less well-trod sights, such as The Lantern in Lyme Park. And the total money raised was £406.25, including Gift Aid. We’d like to thank everyone who took part.

For those of you who were paying attention, we offered two prizes for the whackiest and most challenging ways of clocking New Mills and a further prize for the most money raised. We didn’t feel anyone quite deserved either of the first two prizes but Hazel Ashworth (aged 6) put in a fantastic performance to raise £125. So very well done indeed to Hazel – she gets a free meal at Simply Indian.

We would like to run Clock New Mills again in 2014 – if you have any comments about how it may improve or what it would take for you to join in, please do let us know.

Of course, it’s not too late to donate to Solar Schools, so if you’re feeling minded, visit http://www.solarschools.org.uk/newmills/

Meanwhile, as we finish off the remains of our Christmas meals, everyone involved in Transition New Mills would like to wish all our members and supporters a happy, healthy and peaceful 2014.

Special thanks go to the Clock New Mills team of: Judy Daborn, Jacqui Gadd, Karl Sinfield, Maggie Cole, Alex Bond and Mike Daw for making Clock New Mills possible.

The Lantern Lyme Park

The Lantern Lyme Park

The Clock is Ticking…

17 Saturday Aug 2013

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For those of you who don’t yet know, Clock New Mills is a sponsored challenge to walk to twelve viewpoints around New Mills shaped (roughly!) like a clock face from where you can see (‘clock’) the town. The idea is to raise money to contribute to putting solar panels on the roof of New Mills School. As a Transition Initiative, we want to encourage low carbon and healthy fundraising: you don’t need to fly all the way to Peru to trek to Machu Picchu for this kind of thing, especially when we live in such a beautiful part of the world as it is.

Are you involved? If not, there’s just about time to get your boots on and do the twelve walks because they have to be completed by the time the clocks go back at the end of October.

And if you need any incentive other than the warm glow that comes from doing a good thing (and indeed from the calorie-busting exercise), there are prizes for most money raised, whackiest and most challenging way of doing the walks.

For more info, see: http://www.transitionnewmills.org/page8.htm and http://www.solarschools.org.uk/newmills/