Brookvale’s Solar Power Station
Brookvale Community Association became the proud owners of Basingstoke’s first community owned power station. A first for Basingstoke, and probably Hampshire, and only one of the few in the UK. Well done BCA and a big thank you to Basingstoke Energy Services Co-op (Bes Co-op) for the design and installation of the system. For more about Bes Co-op see www.bes.coop. More information on Brookvale Community Association is here.
See the story in the local press.
DECC Funding
An announcement from DECC confirmed that our project will receive funding to support our community energy programme. We will be funded to undertake 100 domestic EPCs to help householders in Old Basing & Lychpit to identify the potential improvements and efficiency of energy use in their homes. We also had funding to assist with running a community energy engagement event within the village. Both of these activities will help our local community to work together and identify ways to reduce fuel poverty in our ward.
The Scouts and Guides will also have a significant benefit from this award. The DECC LEAF award will pay for the thermal modelling and analysis of various building fabric options for the proposed Old Basing Baden-Powell Centre. This work will enable us to select the most cost effective form of construction to ensure optimum energy efficiency from the new building. It will also enable us to evaluate potential for an interseasonal thermal store designed to collect summer heat. This stored heat could provide an effective alternative to fossil fuels when heating the building during the winter months. The aim of our work will be to establish whether the underground interseasonal thermal store will offer a practical solution to reduce carbon emissions and also deliver a strong financial return on the investment needed.
The combination of the planned studies and community engagement event will help householders in our local area to see what can be achieved. We also engaged local business in this event so that the green economy in our borough gets a boost. This planned approach to creating a better understanding about desigining and constructing for building energy performance is a real investment in our future. Our aim is to inspire young and old with practical application of innovative ideas and technical proofs that challenge the view that we must use fossil fuels to heat buildings. Perhaps the return on this investment will be greater than we imagine!
To find out more on the progress of these projects please check our News and Events Page.