Who: St Aldhelms Church, Edmonton

Where: North London

What: Solar PV

Size: 14.7 kW

Makes: 12 MWh per year

Customer equivalent 3 homes per year

Average equivalent saving: 5 tonnes of CO2 per year

THE ST. ALDHELMS STORY

David Bolster of St Aldhelms watched the completion of the solar installation in the summer of 2005, having spent a number of years thinking what they might do with the sun…

“In the first instance, we were not thinking about panels, but excessive heat from skylights in our large hall! Some lateral thinking suggested turning a problem from the sun’s energy into an asset.

“We could only afford the project if we had significant funding and the key to our success for gaining the grant was to present this as an educational project. After a series of sermons on the environment, covering all sorts of topical issues from global warming to ecology; now it was time for us to put words into action. We proposed the panels presented an opportunity to make people stop and think. How can I save energy and help to stem global warming? We proposed displays on the walls underneath the solar gadgetry and to offer the chance for schools to do work on our premises.

“The scale of our project makes it a pioneer in the UK and it has taken us some months to find a company who can pay us for the power we generate. Good Energy’s SmartGen scheme is providing us what we are looking for and we hope our efforts are paving the way for many similar projects to follow.”