Sign up to solar – community share offering opens today in Edinburgh

The council expressed its wish to enter into cooperative arrangements for a variety of services some time back. The coop which is being launched today is more than that however as it will use buildings in the city to produce solar energy.

The energy generated by the installations will help to make future cost savings while reducing the capital’s carbon emissions by an estimated 855 tonnes a year. Buildings that are chosen to participate will benefit from cheaper electricity from the solar panels, resulting in substantial savings. Any surplus energy will be sold to the National Grid and profits made by the project will be reinvested locally through a newly-created Community Benefit Fund.

You can sign up here to register your interest.

The Edinburgh Community Solar Cooperative launches today:

“After 5 years of trying to deliver a range of urban community renewable energy projects the Edinburgh Community Energy Co-operative, the predecessor of ECSC, decided to re-think its priorities and strategy.  The directors decided that a large scale solar photovoltaic (PV) project on Edinburgh roofs would offer the best chance of delivering a viable co-operative energy project within the city.  Edinburgh is low on the league tables of installed PV of any city in the UK and it is perceived that this is because many people live in tenement flats, with no access to the roof.    ECSC will offer Edinburgh residents the chance to collectively own solar panels, do something positive about climate change and benefit financially while at the same time helping Edinburgh to become a cleaner, greener city.  With Government incentives for community ownership, project scale and recent reductions in the cost of panels, roof mounted solar PV arrays are now a viable business model.”