Here comes the sun! Sow the City’s advice for going solar
Sow the City’s community workshop, the Boiler House in Moss Side, is now powered by the sun! Thinking of going solar? Sow the City are shedding some light on solar panels.
Last summer, Sow the City installed 25 second-hand solar panels onto the roof of their community workshop and creative space at the Boiler House.
“Here at Sow the City, lowering our carbon footprint is one of our core values and by 2030 we want to halve our emissions compared to our 2022/23 levels. The solar panels installed at the Boiler House are part of our strategy to achieving just that.” – Jon Ross, Chief Executive at Sow the City
As well as the solar panels, Sow the City also have a 3-phase inverter, making up their 8kW Solar PV System. By using solar energy at the Boiler House instead of relying on energy from fossil fuels Sow the City are saving 1.14 tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere each year, that’s the equivalent of planting 52 trees or the same amount of carbon that a petrol car would produce driving 5,700 miles!
Installing solar panels also allowed Sow the City to sell their diesel van and replace it with a second-hand electric van which they can charge with solar energy at the centre, further reducing their carbon footprint and helping to reduce air pollution.
“The van also acts as a solar battery, storing the electrical energy. The connection to the van to store the electricity has worked well, especially in the summer, as our max output is 8kW which is more than we would use in the building alone.” – Lucy Moore, Communications and Project Coordinator at Sow the City.
Sounds great right? But how do you know if solar panels are the right choice for you?
During their online solar panel workshop, Sow the City teamed up with NPS Solar to share some advantages and disadvantages of making the switch.
Advantages of solar panels
Solar panels tackle climate change by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. It’s projected that over the next 25 years Sow the City’s solar panels will save up to 28 tonnes CO2 (depending on future grid decarbonisation).
Solar panels are easy and cheap to maintain once installed.
Solar panels are becoming much more efficient as the technology develops.
Solar panels could save you money in the long run. Sow the City are now saving £1000/month on their energy bills since making the switch.
Disadvantages of solar panels
Making the switch to solar has large upfront costs and in total cost Sow the City £10,000, even using second-hand panels. Despite these large upfront costs, Sow the City have a payback period of just under 7 years and over the lifetime of the solar panels, it is projected that they will save £56,486 on their energy bills.
Solar panels need sunlight to work, they won’t generate any energy at night and become less effective when it’s cloudy.
Every cloud…
Whilst it might seem that Manchester’s classic grey weather would put a dampener on your solar panel dreams, the upside is that your solar panels should have a longer lifespan!
Good to know – what Sow the City learned along the way
We learned that it is important to ask for advice from professional, MCS certified, solar panel installers.
Before we contacted NPS Solar we were planning on just asking a standard electrician to help install the second-hand solar panels on the roof, but after asking for advice we realised that we did not have the most efficient converter for our system, so we then swapped this with a different second-hand one which NPS solar had.
It was a slight hurdle to find a solar panel installation company that would install second-hand panels as many wanted to supply the panels themselves.
A year on, Sow the City’s reflections…
“Our Solar panels have helped us save money while reducing our carbon footprint. We work all over Manchester, from Wythenshawe to Newton Heath, so our new electric van facilitates sustainable, carbon-neutral travel. We also use this energy to run our Sow the City office, our laptops and lighting run on sustainable solar energy.
Our tenants at the Boiler House also benefit from these solar panels, as they can use green energy. Most of our tenants are environmentally minded, so the solar system benefits them, and their brand image, and is also an attraction for them to work at the Boiler House. For example, Chorlton Bike Coop operates out of the Boiler House, so in the summer, all their e-cargo bikes run on solar energy.
We have put an information sign up in our reception, with details about our solar panels, to help inform, mobilise, and empower the local community. We also have a C02 meter which informs people who use the building how much solar energy we generate and how much C02 we have saved since installing the panels.
The MCS-certified company, NPS Solar helped with our installation. We would recommend other community groups to use NPS Solar (or a similar company) if you do not know much about solar panels, getting your head around the solar panel system can be difficult and the installation is safer completed by a professional. NPS Solar helped recommend which size and type of solar system would be the best for our community centre, they also have lots of experience working in the community.
Although, we have had some unexpected faults with our solar system; the inverter intermittently stopped working over the winter period due to a voltage mismatch with the grid. The inverter and live C02 meter in reception should be back up and running in time for spring.
Overall, we would recommend solar panels to other community centres especially if you can get your hands on some cheaper second-hand panels. Despite a few maintenance issues we are happy with the solar system and are proud to know that in the summer, we are running on 100% green energy.”