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Solar energy sheds new light on charity funding

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Dean Walton and Robert Ashton

The scheme has been launched in collaboration with social entrepreneur Robert Ashton, who is a government advisor on social enterprise issues and a micro generator at his own premises.

“Many charities are locked out of the small scale renewable energy feed-in-tariffs that are offered by government because they cannot afford the capital investment required. EOS Energy’s ‘Community Green’ is all about bridging that gap,” said Mr Ashton.

“It’s a true win, win situation. Not only will the ‘Community Green’ incentive raise money for community capital projects, it tips not-for-profit organisations off the fence enabling them to benefit from free electricity,” he said.

Under the feed-in tariff scheme, individuals or developers who generate power from solar – or other renewable sources - receive payments from their energy supplier based on how much energy they generate to off-set installation costs.

‘Community Green’ will be available to any not-for-profit organisation but will be dependent upon the suitability of their buildings.

Communities will be encouraged to work together and promote participation in the scheme with local residents and charity supporters. Mr Ashton will initially assess and advise on each proposal before passing them on to EOS Energy’s surveyors.

EOS Energy will install and maintain the Photovoltaic arrays free of charge and each property owner will be entitled access to as much of the generated power that they can use.

Surplus energy is sold to the National Grid and EOS will donate 4% from the installation costs to community schemes. The feed-in-tariff is used to repay the schemes funders.

“There is no reason why rooftops across the whole of Britain could not be used as batteries to power all our towns and cities with renewable energy,” said Dean Walton, director of EOS Energy.

“At EOS we believe that carbon-free power generation is the way forward for the UK charities and not-for-profit organisations, everyone should benefit from the Government’s Feed-in-Tariff scheme,” he said.
EOS Energy, the UK’s fastest growing solar developer, has launched a new scheme this week that will provide free solar PV panels for charities and not-for profit organisations called ‘Community Green’.