Following a successful pilot earlier in the year when solar panels were installed on 13 Lockleaze homes, Bristol Power Co-op is now offering shares at 6% over 20 years to Bristolians and others who want to help put free solar panels on more roofs in the area.
The shares offer document can be downloaded from the website at bristolpower.coop, and a public event on Friday 30 November will present the scheme to anyone in Bristol who is interested in finding out more.
Investors can put from £500 to £20,000 into the scheme by filling in the forms and putting them in the post with a cheque. The share offer was originally to close at the end of November but has been extended to December 31st.
Bristol Power Co-op is a recently formed group whose aim is to arrange free solar power for all of Bristol.
It works in partnership with BASIC, Bristol Area Solar Installer Co-op, created earlier this year to create more local jobs and help make Bristol the UK’s first solar city.
The scheme is administered by a community interest (not-for-profit) company, Bristol Power CIC, based at Hamilton House in Stokes Croft, which installed Bristol’s biggest array of solar panels on its own roof a year ago.
Lockleaze resident and co-op member Bob Smith said: “I’ve been given 4 kilowatts of solar panels on my roof. The panels and installation cost me nothing, and the electricity’s free. It powers everything from the phone charger to the oven in our house during daytime. Our electricity bills have gone down. Anything extra the panels generate goes back to the grid.”
“My wife couldn’t believe it when I told her boiling the kettle cost nothing!”
Bristol Power CIC Director David Saunders said: “It’s great to see how lively a community becomes when people realize that they can run their own energy supply. We’d love everyone to get behind this share offer, which will help us do more.”
Local MP Charlotte Leslie said: “This is a really exciting initiative, not only to make affordable energy a reality for everybody, but also to bring residents in Lockleaze together, in a real community movement. I think it could be the beginning of something big.”
New Bristol Mayor George Ferguson said: “You know you have my full support.”
The share offer event is in the Hamilton Suite, Hamilton House, Stokes Croft on Friday 30 November at 6 to 8 pm.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Bristol Power CIC is the project management company for the Streets of Solar project, owned by Bristol Power Co-op and served by Bristol Area Solar Installers’ Co-op. Full share offer documents are at www.bristolpower.coop
CONTACT
For further information, interviews or pictures, please contact:
Bristol Power CIC Managing Director David Saunders 07790 779470 davidnsaunders@gmail.com
Bristol Coop Director Mike Soldner 07536 025957 mike@bristolpower.coop
Issued by Bristol Power CIC