Shropshire Climate Action
Cutting Carbon - Restoring Nature - Saving Money
Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Solar and Battery Assisted Communities (SATBAC)
Powering resilient communities
What is SATBAC?
Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Solar and Battery Assisted Communities (SATBAC) is a community led approach that aims to install solar and/or batteries at community buildings to:
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Enhance community resilience
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Cut energy costs
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Reduce carbon emissions
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We are undertaking a feasibility study to see how best to achieve these aims.
How will SATBAC work?
We install solar panels and/or batteries at your community building or village hall at no cost to you. We take care of all the planning, installation, maintenance and insurance.
You use the electricity generated/stored when you need it, reducing your costs.
You can sell electricity you don’t use back to the grid, generating a small income for your local community.
You can generate a larger income with a bigger battery. This is called electricity arbitrage, where you don’t just sell electricity from your solar back to the grid, you buy electricity from the grid off-peak, store it on your battery and then sell it back to the grid at peak rate. Many successful businesses have been set up to make money from electricity arbitrage, and our feasibility study will tell us if it’s viable for village halls and community buildings in Shropshire.
What are the benefits?
Of course, there are a number of benefits to installing solar and batteries on your village hall or community building, particularly if you don’t have to pay for it. These benefits are (hover over each item to see more):
No capital costs to community buildings
We hope to be able to pay all upfront costs through grants and sponsorship
Reduced electricity costs
With solar panels and a battery you can generate your own electricity and use it when you need it, topping up from the grid if necessary
Greater energy security
Protecting against energy price increases – lower electricity bills and the confidence that you will be able to keep your low for your village hall or community building whatever is happening in the wider world is very reassuring
Income for local community
it may not be much or it could be quite a bit, depending on all sorts of local factors, but it’s definitely worth having as an additional benefit on top of reduced electricity bills.
Reduced carbon emissions
Not forgetting, of course, that electricity, whether from the grid or solar on your rooftop, is a lot cleaner and has less carbon emissions than gas or oil. Greater energy security, protecting against energy price increases – lower electricity bills and the confidence that you will be able to keep your low for your village hall or community building whatever is happening in the wider world is very reassuring.
Help balance the grid
This may not be a direct benefit to you but it is a huge plus for your Distribution Network Operator (DNO) and to the National Energy Systems Operator (NESO), who manage the grid regionally and nationally, delivering electricity to all electricity users, and balancing supply and demand – it is because of the benefits to grid managing companies we think we might be able to secure sponsorship from them to help fund our solar and battery plans
Greater community resilience
The opportunity to create:
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Warm hubs, during autumn and winter – helping people in the local community to keep warm when the temperature drops
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Cool hubs, during summer heat waves – helping people in the local community to keep cool during heatwaves
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Digital hubs, where people can access the internet – not everyone has access to broadband and wifi at home
Opportunity to add other electrical devices
EV charge points – electric vehicle (EV) charge points in your parking area would provide another potential source of income
Air source heat pumps – enabling you to get rid of your existing gas or oil boiler
Air to air heat pumps – these work well in big spaces and enable you to both heat the space in winter and cool it in summer
Additional battery storage – the bigger the battery, the more potential income you can generate for your local community
Has it been done before?
Yes, in fact the SATBAC approach has been inspired by a similar project in Northumberland, where they have installed solar and batteries at 15 village halls and community buildings and have plans to achieve 100 installations by 2030.
The Northumberland project is a real community effort involving setting up Northumberland Community Energy Ltd (NCEL), a Community Benefit Society (CBS), via a partnership between Community Action Northumberland (CAN), National Innovation Centre Rural Enterprise (NICRE) and The Rural Design Centre.
Northumberland Project
Little Wenlock Village Hall
Local examples
The value of SATBAC’s county-wide approach is that, instead of individual village halls or community buildings having to develop detailed plans for solar and batteries, seek funding, project manage installation, undertake ongoing maintenance and buy insurance, SATBAC will do all that, meaning you don’t have to. We have the expertise, you gain the benefits.
Of course, there are also many success stories from individual village halls and community buildings in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin that have installed solar and batteries. One such success story is Little Wenlock Village Hall, where they have solar, batteries, air source and air to air heat pumps, and almost 15 years of data showing electricity generated and money saved.
Contact the SATBAC team
If you would like solar and/or batteries for your village hall or community building and the building is in Shropshire or Telford & Wrekin, get yourself on our mailing list for progress updates.
If you would like to discuss the SATBAC project with a SATBAC team member, email us at satbac@shropshireclimateaction.org and we’ll get back to you.