In this issue:
- Dorset Community Energy solar generation in 2018
- New solar installations in 2019 – get ready to support our share offer – please help us gauge local interest by completing this short survey by 10th March – once we have thirty responses we will make a donation to Trees for Life, who plant trees in the Scottish Highlands.
- Microgrids and Passiv House development in Bridport
- Last chance for Feed-in-Tariff 31st March 2019
- 2019 AGM
best wishes from Dorset Community Energy Directors: Tim, Pete, Henry, Tom, Derek and Emily
Dorset Community Energy solar generation in 2018
Last year, 2018, was the second sunniest UK year on record according to the Met Office, with 1,575 hours of sunshine landing on our solar panels. We generated 445,876 kWh of electricity, more than 10% above that predicted in our share offer documents. Dorset Community Energy (DCE) members benefitted from an interest payment of 5.5% in September.
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More solar installations on schools expected in 2019, your chance to support!
Help us gauge local interest by completing a short survey, read the article and find the link below or do it now! Please complete by 10th March – once we have thirty responses we will make a donation to Trees for Life, who plant trees in the Scottish Highlands.
If you were at our AGM, you will have heard that we won a grant application to the Rural Community Energy Fund to meet the costs of technical and feasibility studies for a new round of solar photovoltaic panel installations on schools.
The feasibility studies are now almost completed. Six schools and five hospital sites have expressed interest and have been assessed as feasible using a similar financial model to our existing installations, and we expect to issue a share offer soon.
Microgrids and Passiv House development in Bridport
Dorset Community Energy (DCE) also secured funding from the Rural Community Energy Fund to carry out a feasibility study to supply solar photovoltaic electricity to 53 new homes being developed by Bridport Co-Housing and designed to Passiv House specifications.
DCE appointed consultants Wessex Energy Solutions (WES) to conduct the study, which has shown that using a standard model of installing panels onto homes and selling electricity to the householders would not be financially viable, however installing an array of panels whose electricity is shared across the houses, by a micro-grid, backed up with a storage battery is financially viable.
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Last chance to benefit from Feed-In Tarrif
If you are considering installing solar photovoltaic panels, or any other renewable electricity technology on your home then you need to act quickly as the Feed-in Tariff will close to new installations on 31st March 2019.
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Dorset Community Energy – AGM – July 2019
We are intending to hold our AGM in July 2019, date and venue to be confirmed..