Going Green For Community

Meet the community group who saved enough on energy bills to hire supply teachers!

-  SUSIE KEARLEY

Back in 2010, a group of environmentalists decided to set up their own community energy organisation, generating local energy for local people.

Bath and West Community Energy (BWCE) was born.

Over 13 years, they've built five solar farms and installed 22 rooftop solar systems.

Sara Grimes is the head of community business development.

"We wanted to provide low-cost green power for local people," she explains. "When the government feed-in tariff came along in April 2010, it meant renewable energy got a better price from the National Grid than dirty energy from fossil fuels. It made our projects financially viable." The group started working with their local council, who introduced them to schools.

"The schools didn't have big budgets for solar panels," explains Sara. "So we could offer to buy, own and maintain the panels, while the schools received cheaper power.

"We'd collect the feed-in tariff, and any extra revenues from the sale of the electricity would go into a community fund to support local projects.

The schools save so much money on their energy bills that in some cases it can pay for a supply teacher for a year!"