An iconic building, community power, and lots of sequins – not your usual Thursday night. Last week the BEC team joined a national celebration of innovation and sustainable development in the energy industry, the Regen Green Energy Awards.
BEC projects were up for two awards: the first under the Community Energy Initiative for our solar array on the rooftop of the iconic Bristol Beacon, and the second for Net Zero Energy Developer through our partners Cepro for our microgrid projects at Water Lilies and Bridport. After a tense wait, the winners were announced – Bristol Beacon bagged it! Judges praised the replicable nature of the project and our work with commercial partners.
Bristol Beacon is a rare example of partnership between a community-owned renewable energy developer and a building contractor working together to maximise the social and environmental benefit of rooftop solar. A major refurbishment is a great opportunity to install rooftop solar PV. However, this is rarely built into refurbishment plans—or where it is, it’s typically at small scale solely for the use in the building itself.
Opting for a larger, community-owned installation is better for everyone – maximising carbon reduction impact, providing cheaper power for the building owner, and generating surplus benefits from the sale of the excess power that can be channelled back into the community. We worked closely with contracting and interior fit-out group Wilmott Dixon from the start of the process to come up with a new model for making this happen. Wilmott Dixon installed the PV system to fit in seamlessly with the main refurbishment work, then BEC adopted it, running the solar array for the benefit of the community over many years to come.
We were able to increase the size of the installation from an initially planned 30kWp array to 127kWp – four times more solar than originally planned. BEC’s 348 solar panels will reduce Bristol Beacon’s annual energy bills by around £2,400 in the first year and will provide the venue with nearly 23 tonnes of CO2 saving annually. As well as helping decarbonise Bristol, the project will boost our community benefit contributions by an estimated £12,400 over the project’s lifetime – supporting the grassroots work that holds our city together. It’s all part of our mission building a power station on Bristol’s roofs.You can read more about the history of the project here.
The Regen awards received more than 100 entries this year from companies, communities and individuals across Britain. The shortlist was truly impressive and an incredible showcase of the inspiring work that is happening right now in the energy sector. We are incredibly proud of this prestigious recognition of our work and want to give a big shout out to all our members, partners and supporters who have helped make it happen.
