Solar Power
Renewable electricity generation
Solar Farm
Solar farms would be deployed in one or more locations in the area and either (or both) reduce electricity costs or provide an income stream and reduce CO2. Typical locations for solar farms are on land leased from farms.
Obviously, significant considerations would be the location(s) and how this impacted the ecology and look of the area. We will of course avoid locations that would have a significant visual impact.
Ground and lake-based solar will be considered – normally solar farms are built on the ground but can float on water.
Typically solar farms are the most cost-effective option and generate the most power per £.
Solar Community Rooftop
Community buildings can provide the larger roof space needed for community energy.
It’s not obvious there will be any suitable community roofs in the villages of Somerford Keynes and Shorncote – the village hall already has solar panels.
At Lower Mill Estate the storage barns may be suitable as they offer significant continuous roof space and being single story will be more cost-effective to install on. Building such as the Spa, Balihoo and Mill Village pool
Solar Home Rooftop
Solar can be installed on the roofs of individual homes. We are working on an initiative to bulk purchase solar (and optionally batteries) for individual homes – we aim to reduce costs and complexity by negotiating a good deal with a supply based on bulk purchasing power – homes would individually contract and pay for their own installation, but with a Thames Head Energy negotiated special price. If you would like to join this please either email info@thamesheadenergy.org or message 07785 362 573 by text or WhatsApp.
The reason we aren’t planning to place community solar on individual homes, is partly as a solar farm(s) would be more cost-effective and partly due to the legal complexity of putting a community asset on a private roof.