Location: Glasgow
Technology: Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels
CARES funding: £40,920, capital grant
Background
In 2020, Glasgow Community Energy (GCE) installed community-owned solar panels on two schools in Glasgow: Ashton Secondary School and Glendale Primary School (Bunsgoil Ghàidhlig Ghleann Dail). These partnership projects generate around £3,000 a year for GCE’s Cathy McCormack Community Activism Fund. The fund directs the income into the local community by providing grants to groups working on environmental and social projects.
Seeing the success of these projects over their first few years of operation, GCE started to explore the potential of expanding to more sites. The team began contacting building owners across the Glasgow City region, including local authorities, third sector organisations, community groups and local businesses.
While speaking to potential organisations about the benefits of partnering it became clear that a dedicated resource was required to bring new projects to life at scale.
That’s when GCE got in touch with Local Energy Scotland to take advantage of the CARES Community Energy Generation Growth Fund. This fund offered community groups support for projects at the development or installation stage. For projects at the development stage, funding was available to assist community groups to achieve project milestones such as planning, securing sites, technical design and procurement.
Eager to make the most of the opportunity the funding presented, GCE put together a list of nine sites to focus its efforts on.
Project Aims
The main aim was to secure buy-in from potential sites and lay the foundations that would make installations possible. This involved three focus areas:
- secure legal agreements with site owners
- carry out design work
- progress consents such as building warrants and grid connections
Outcomes
GCE received a £40,920 grant which supported costs for project management, legal advice and design work for the solar PV panels.
Creating and sharing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
An MOU was developed to clearly outline what each organisation would contribute to the project. GCE sent the MOU and a template proposal to site owners, so everyone understood the project and to give an agreement in principle.
This was helpful as many organisations needed approval from colleagues, management or their local community. It also helped identify which organisations didn’t want to continue, allowing GCE to focus on other potential sites.
Preparing a Head of Terms and agreements
The funding also helped GCE pay for a legal advisor to prepare a Head of Terms and a lease and a power purchase agreement. These are expected to form the legal basis for the future solar PV panel installations. Formal discussions on these agreements haven’t started yet, but the templates are finalised and ready to be shared with the host sites when the time comes.
Potential partners shortlisted
Potential partner organisations signed an MOU and received a high-level proposal that included the solar PV panel designs, roof leases and the power purchase agreement for the sale of energy generated.
Sites surveyed and systems designed
CGE’s technical contractor completed site visits and structural surveys, providing designs and costs for solar installs for each site.
Eight partners projects get installation ready
After reviewing site surveys, GCE decided to move forward with eight sites and developed a financial model to estimate project costs and potential income from selling the generated electricity. GCE is now getting ready to start formal legal discussions with the host sites and to complete the remaining development work, including permissions such as building warrants and grid connection. This will help move towards completing the final agreement and to begin the installations.
A spokesperson from GCE shared: “With support from Local Energy Scotland, our project manager, volunteer board and two contractors who delivered legal and technical consultancy, we managed to achieve a great deal.”
Lessons learned
Engaging with host sites was a time intensive process, GCE shared that having a dedicated project manager who understands the project, the organisation and its priorities was essential to keeping things on track.
Most of the host sites were third sector and voluntary organisations. These organisations are usually under-resourced and juggling a lot of priorities. GCE reflected that working with a single owner responsible for multiple buildings, such as a local authority, would have made coordination far easier.
Another key learning was the importance of being flexible. GCE noted that of the eight sites they are progressing with, only two of them were on its original list. As work progressed some sites turn out to not be the right fit or do not have the time to fully commit to the process. A spokesperson shared that “flexibility and support from CARES in managing this issue was essential” to the project’s achievements.
GCE recommend planning enough time to co-ordinate the creation of legal documents. When working with its legal advisor the team had to make important decisions quickly, so these could be built into the agreements. This required significant time investment from the legal advisor, project manager and board.
Finally, GCE shared that the more time and effort it put into the project, the more opportunities arose to engage with people in the community, which raised its profile and generated more possibilities for future projects and relationships.
A spokesperson from GCE, reflecting on the project, stated, ‘Overall, it’s been an incredibly positive experience that we hope we can build on and deliver this project to installation in the near future.’