Bradford Community Energy: Providing affordable solar power and tackling fuel poverty

“There wasn’t any community energy going on in Bradford – so we spotted a gap and decided to do something about it,” said Bradford Community Energy (BCE) co-founder Carlton Smith.

Carlton is also CEO of Bradford Trident – a community organisation supporting people in the Little Horton area of the city. It was through his connections that he gathered a group of committed people to form a community benefit society (CBS) to increase renewable energy in the area and address local fuel poverty.

A former finance officer for a local co‑op advised BCE to set up as a community benefit society, as this provided the required governance for a community share offer for raising funds – and for meeting the wider community aims that BCE wanted to achieve.

With two local community centres ready to work with them, the team launched a community share offer to finance the solar panels for the centres.

To help launch their share offer, BCE were awarded a development grant from the Community Shares Booster Fund, delivered by the Community Shares Unit at Co‑operatives UK.

“We got a lot of help from the team at the Community Shares Unit, who gave us guidance on the correct Sharia alignment terminology to use. Their support was excellent from start to finish. They were very encouraging and gave us lots of valuable advice.”

The share offer was a success – and raised the required £60,000 to purchase the two solar arrays. “We raised £30,000 from 34 investor members and the Booster Fund provided match funding of £30,000,” said Carlton.

“Bradford Council were also very supportive throughout – and gave us some funding. Bradford Trident was helpful in reaching out into the wider community too.” 

By March 2019, the solar arrays were installed – and have been generating low-cost electricity for the community centres ever since. 

“We lease the roof from each building for the panels and have agreements with them that they use as much of the electricity generated as they need,” Carlton explained. 

“They are on a very competitive rate, which is index linked for 20 years.

“Seventy five percent of the generated electricity is used at the sites, which, via the power purchase agreement, recently enabled a £4,000 saving to the buildings when compared to grid rates.”

“So, it’s working very well. There’s a steady throughput and the solar arrays are performing as modelled. Bradford Trident are a trusted partner and everyone seems very happy.”

“The three-year annual average combined solar electric generation is 49.8 mWh, giving a CO2 emission saving of 8 tonnes per year based on Carbon Brief’s 162gCO2/kWh.”

As part of the organisation’s community aims, 10% of profits goes into providing energy advice for other local hubs, as Carlton explained: “We’ve conducted 25 energy audits for community centres in the city, some of whom are progressing with their fuel efficiency plans based on the advice.”

With happy customers and a community support service that’s making a difference, Carlton and his colleagues now are looking to grow the business. 

“We hope to expand operations in the near future. We have ambitions to create a hub that provides technical assessments, advice and signposting for retrofitting – and it’s thanks to the Booster Fund’s help that we’re here – and in a good position to take our plans forward.” 

Find out more

Bradford Community Energy – Website | Facebook