Former BBC presenter Heather ‘the Weather’ Reid brought some welcome sunshine to Gylemuir Primary School in Edinburgh at the launch of a major new solar energy project in September.
Capital residents are being encouraged to buy shares in the scheme – run by the Edinburgh Community Solar Co-operative – to install solar panels on up to 25 schools, community and leisure centres owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, including Gylemuir Primary.
The minimum share purchase is £250 per person, and if the project raises enough money to install panels on all sites, it will become the UK’s largest community-owned urban renewables scheme. Once complete it should generate enough green energy to build a £1m community fund and save the council nearly a thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
Kids at the school were on hand to show off their own renewable energy ideas – including models of machines which could use green power – and to find out more about the project.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Richard Dixon, Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland and Chairman of the co-op said:
“This share offer is a great way for residents of Edinburgh – and beyond – to become part owner of a renewable energy scheme.
“Anyone in Scotland – in fact anyone in the UK – can apply to buy shares, but preference will be given to people living within the City of Edinburgh Council area. In total we are looking to raise £1.4 million, and if the offer is, as we hope, oversubscribed, Edinburgh folk will be first in line.
“Every co-op member is projected to receive a return of five per cent on their shares, and any surplus the co-op generates will go towards a Community Benefit Fund which will support new sustainable energy projects across the city,” Dixon says.
In the first five years of the project, applications for funding will be invited from users of the buildings – including Gylemuir Primary – on which panels have been installed.
The idea has the backing of Heather Reid, who formally launched the scheme:
“I think it is a terrific initiative. Scotland’s east coast sees on average more than 1200 hours of sunshine a year and this is plenty to generate significant amounts of green power. It has clearly captured the imagination of the children at Gylemuir Primary School and I hope they are encouraging their parents and grandparents – and even local businesses – to buy some shares.”
The City of Edinburgh Council’s Vice Convener of Transport and Environment, Councillor Adam McVey, said: “This a wonderful project and will bring significant long term environmental, social and economic benefits to the city.
“We have an ambitious target of reducing Edinburgh’s carbon emissions by 42 per cent by 2020 and this new community co-operative is an important step towards us achieving this.”
The share offer opens today. Co-op members will get a projected return of five per cent per year on their shares, plus RPI. Subject to approval from HMRC, the investment will also be eligible for the Enterprise Investment Scheme, offering income tax relief of 30 per cent on any investment.
To download or order a share offer document, or to find out more, visit www.edinburghsolar.coop, call 01229 821028 or text SUNSHINE to 60777 (standard rate). A full list of the proposed buildings can be found on the co-op web site.