The AURORA Project in the Forest of Dean started in 2022 with the aim of installing at least 200 kWp of community solar on public and community asset buildings. This rooftop solar PV installation will reduce carbon and electricity bill costs for the building operators as well as act as a demonstrator for other replication projects in the Forest of Dean and in the UK. At the outset, we agreed our community solar installation would be in Lydney, at Lydney Leisure Centre and the adjoining secondary school, The Dean Academy
We have multiple partners who play a role and are responsible for the projects actions, decision making and ultimate success who are The Athelstan Trust, The Dean Academy, Big Solar Co-op, Forest of Dean District Council and Freedom Leisure. Together we have worked through an endless list of actions with plenty of problem solving and learnings along the way.
We are delighted that we will surpass the original remit and install approximately 800 solar PV panels, with an estimated annual output of 276,536 kWh. This will save approximately 53 tonnes of CO2 per year with approximately £477,000 in cost savings over a 20-year period. All via the community share model implemented by Big Solar Co-op using ethically and sustainably sourced solar panels.
What we Have Learned
It takes significant time, commitment and determination to implement a multi-stakeholder project like this. There are literally hundreds of decisions to be made and beyond our core partners there are a significant number of additional organisations and individuals who also contribute to project progress such as external lawyers, building structural and electrical surveyors, the local Planning Department, National Grid, the school Board of Governors, the Department for Education, installers, solar panel and other equipment manufacturers and suppliers, and so on.
There are numerous consents and approvals which extends the project timeline in two ways. Firstly, to complete an application to the Department for Education for consent, an application for ‘Prior Approval for Permitted Development’ for Planning consent and an application for approval for grid connection takes time to complete the forms and gather all the necessary supporting evidence, documents and plans. Secondly, the maximum timescale for receiving approval is long, around two to three months for some and it often takes the maximum time to hear back.
A dedicated project manager is required to drive the project, keep up momentum on action progression, problem solve and negotiate through blocks and issues. The EU funded AURORA Project has that in the form of a specific paid staff resource in the AURORA Forest of Dean team. In terms of AURORA’s ambition to be a catalyst for replication projects in the future, it would be more difficult to achieve success without some form of dedicated resource to undertake this role.
Key Milestones Achievements
For Lydney Leisure Centre, we have most of the necessary consents and approvals in place, legal documents at the final stage of agreement and signing, solar PV panels purchased and stored and our installer ready to schedule the work for early 2025. This installation will be a 62 kWp size array, reducing carbon and running costs for Freedom Leisure.
The installation at The Dean Academy is ambitious and complex, involving 8 separate buildings on the school grounds, which have different roof types, materials and ages. We have recently received a detailed building structural survey report giving the green light to putting the extra load of the solar panels on the roofs and a guarantee of warranty preservation on the flat felt roofs from the original roofing contractor. Our 250 kWp size array at the school will significantly reduce carbon and electricity costs for The Dean Academy. Now we submit the applications for the various approvals and wait, and work through the agreement and signing of the legal documents, looking forward to an installation sometime next year.
Further information on the Lydney Solar PV Project is on our webpage Community Solar and this will be kept up to date as the project progresses. News can also be received by signing up to our local AURORA Forest of Dean / Forest Community Energy newsletter or follow the project on Facebook and X.
