Reducing the environmental impact of Brighton Road Baptist Church
The Brighton Road Baptist Church in Horsham is an independent church dating back to 1894.
The building has undergone serveral rebuilds and renovations over the past 125 years, with the most current incarnation being opened as recently as 2008.
The building is a modern, contemporary design that has been created to meet the needs of its vibrant 21st Century congregation. The large sloping roof makes the property an ideal candidate for solar power, and the trustees decided to enlist the help of BHESCo to turn this from concept into reality.
The church already engages in a variety of ecologically friendly and sustainable practices, and the addition of rooftop solar panels will make Brighton Road Baptist Church one of only nine Gold Rated Eco Churches in the UK.
Helping to meet energy needs with clean, affordable community owned energy
To understand how much of the church’s energy demand could be met by the addition of a rooftop solar PV array, BHESCo undertook a comprehensive survey of the premises in addition to carefully studying their historic energy bills.
Following a consultation with the Brighton Road Baptist Church Trustees, it was decided to install a 30kW peak array, using JA Solar 275w Multicrystalline Panels. Once installed, we expect the system to meet a considerable proportion of the building’s electricity needs.
The solar panel array will be installed by our partners from Energy Creation.
Solar panel costs and predicted financial and environmental benefits
The upfront cost of £25,411 will be paid for by BHESCo’s shareholders and the panels will be leased to the church for a period of 20 years.
During this time the electricity generated from the solar panels will be sold to the church at a price substantially below that offered by even the cheapest energy suppliers. As a result of purchasing their electricity from BHESCo, we expect the church to save £30,600 on their energy bills during the lease period.
Once the lease has been repaid to BHESCo’s shareholders, the church will own the solar panels and enjoy the full benefit of all the electricity they generate for free.
In addition to saving the church an estimated £1,530 each year on their energy bills, we expect the solar panel array to reduce the annual carbon emissions of the building by 9.7 tonnes (the same amount of pollution as would be expelled by 22 Trans-Atlantic flights from London to New York).
Renewable energy equipment installed
30kW Solar PV Array
Estimated cost and CO2 savings
Fundraising
BHESCo are raising the funds for this project through a community share offer
Investors receive a 5% return* on their investment and have a say in how our co-operative is run.
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