Salisbury Cathedral installs Solar Panels on the Cloisters
(9th July 2020)
Salisbury Cathedral has taken another step towards their long-term aim to be carbon neutral by 2030, in line with targets agreed in 2020 by the Church of England. The Cathedral has installed ninety-three solar panels on the roof of the Cloisters. It was awarded a Silver Eco-Church Award in 2020 and then became the first cathedral in the UK to achieve a Gold Eco-Church Award in 2021 from A Rocha UK, a Christian nature conservation charity.
The 37 kW installation was completed at the start of July 2020 and provides 33,708 kWh of clean energy to Salisbury Cathedral, reducing its carbon footprint by 11,764 kilograms per year.
The panels are located on the South Cloister roof and cannot be seen from the ground. Only visitors climbing the Spire can get a glimpse of them.
The project has been under development since late 2017 when Salisbury Community Energy approached the Cathedral about a possible installation. Planning permission was granted in March 2020.
Salisbury Community Energy partnered with Schools Energy Cooperative in 2019 to deliver the project, and the money was raised in November 2019 through a local community share offer. The panels are collectively owned by small, local and ethical investors who want to encourage more renewable energy generation.
The project has been designed and installed by Joju Solar, who are a leading PV installer. In addition to the Cathedral, another four solar PV installations have been completed across Salisbury, totalling 206kW of capacity.
Wiltshire College --------------59 Kilowatts
Bishop Wordsworth
School----30 Kilowatts
St Martins Primary
School-----30 Kilowatts
Kong Ltd, High
Post------------50 Kilowatts
Share Offer Results
Our share offer with Schools’ Energy Co-op is now closed. It has been a resounding success. The national target, originally set at £510,000, to install solar on schools all over the UK, has been exceeded: £690,163 was invested. The Salisbury investment, as part of that, totals £213K (£212,925).
Well done Salisbury! Thank you to all our investors for joining us in the first ever community energy share offer here.
