Cheltenham & Gloucestershire College

Challenge

Gloucestershire College looked to establish themselves as a community beacon in the education sector by pledging to be carbon zero by 2030 (20 years ahead of the UK Government’s commitment of 2050), meaning that the carbon they generate from their operations will be 100% offset by the carbon saved through renewable technology.

To achieve this, Hillside Environmental Services approached us to install a large solar PV system on each campus following on from successfully securing Government funding of £2.8m for the retrofit project. Solar PV was installed on their sites amongst many other additional renewable energy generation technologies such as ground source heat pumps and battery storage.

In order to develop the solar PV project and providing a full turnkey service, our design engineering team took the project from conceptual design right through to installation and aftercare. Prior to installation our team conducted desktop studies, planning, structural analysis and completed the grid application process on behalf of the client.

In addition to this, we installed a 1MWp/1,040kWh battery supplied by Multi-Source Power at each campus. The purpose of the batteries is to provide dynamic containment.

The batteries will be used for dynamic containment. The battery will have a single internal operations controller and a single GRP IP64 enclosure will house the suite of batteries, HVAC and controller(s).

During construction, our teams used a rope system to install the panels without the need for scaffolding, which reduced site disruption and lowered their project costs. The construction process took our team only six weeks to complete and was finished on schedule for the client.

Now complete, the 697kWp system at Cheltenham will output 618,102kWh per year, whilst saving 3,295,801kg of carbon emissions over the next 25 years. Giving a payback of 4 years 10 months based on a rate of 14p.

Furthermore, the 636kWp system at Gloucestershire Campus will generate 594,209kWh saving 3,167,439kg of carbon emissions over the next 25 years. Therefore, providing a payback of 4 years 9 months based on a rate of 14p.

The main driver for this project was to decarbonise the sites in order to achieve their carbon neutrality goals. In addition to this, the systems will help lower their energy expenditure and reduce their dependency on the national grid.

Not mention, these systems will provide a fantastic learning opportunity for the students, helping them to understand the capabilities of renewable energy technology and see how it works in person.