Village Hall Leads the Charge with Northumberland Project’s First Solar Panel Installation

13th Sep 2024

Village Hall Leads the Charge with Northumberland Project’s First Solar Panel Installation

Corsenside Parish Hall is celebrating being the first community building in a county-wide project to embrace renewable energy through solar panels and battery storage, with plans to extend installations to over 100 rural sites across Northumberland in the next five years.

The hall partnered with Northumberland Community Energy Limited’s (NCEL) Solar-Powered Buildings Project, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at providing sustainable energy solutions for village halls, churches, and community sports facilities across the region.

Hosted by Community Action Northumberland (CAN), and developed in partnership with the Rural Design Centre and the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise, the project involves installing solar PV panels and battery storage systems on rural community buildings, empowering them to generate their own electricity, cut costs, and reduce their carbon footprint.

Andy Dean from CAN emphasised the importance of the project:

“We all need to reduce our carbon emissions – including community buildings. Greater use of self-generated energy will significantly reduce the running costs of community buildings, particularly important in times of rising and fluctuating energy costs.

“In addition, Storms Arwen and Malik highlighted the potential impact of power cuts and loss of connection to the national grid. Battery storage of electricity enables power to be maintained until re-connection has been achieved – particularly important for those community buildings which act as formal Emergency Rest Centres or Community Response Hubs.”

Now fully electric, Corsenside Parish Hall is already benefiting from clean solar energy, which has drastically lowered its running costs and boosted energy independence. Within weeks, the panels have been delivering significant solar power, feeding surplus energy back into the grid.

Fiona Knox, NECL’s project manager, celebrated this key milestone:

“It is a big milestone to get the first system installed and other hall installations are following quickly in Corsenside’s trail-blazing footsteps. It is satisfying to see the Hall’s community embracing new technology for the benefit of their long term viability and reduction of carbon footprint.

"The volunteers at the Hall have pulled the stops out to help make this happen and declared they were delighted as the last contractor packed their work bag and left. We are grateful for the funding from the National Lottery Community Fund that has allowed us to bring solar energy generation to Corsenside Parish Hall and its community.”

Just a week after Corsenside, Longhoughton Sports and Community Centre became the second location to install solar panels. Seventy-six panels now power the Centre, with surplus electricity being stored in batteries or sold to the national grid.

The £57,000 system, installed by NCEL, is set to reduce the Centre’s electricity costs by up to £2,000 annually. Jeremy Pickard, Chair of Trustees at Longhoughton Centre, explained:

“This scheme should initially allow the Centre to reduce its electricity cost by up to £2,000 per year and further savings will come in future years. The Centre has been pursuing this scheme for over two years and the great thing is that the 15p price for each kilowatt we are paying to NCEL is contracted, at this price, for twenty years. It is a great deal and will help the Community and Sports Centre to move towards having all its energy needs coming from renewable sources.”

The Longhoughton installation has been funded by the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub and the National Lottery Community Fund.

Read more on NECL’s Solar-Powered Buildings Project and upcoming installations.