Battle aims to become UK’s first ‘solar town’

Battle was put on the map in 1066 – and it could be made famous once more if residents succeed in their mission to make it Britain’s first ‘solar town’. Bex Bastable from the Local Storytelling Exchange reports.

Community group Battle Solar Town has set an ambitious target to generate 25% of the town’s energy demand through rooftop solar, and is now working to get residents on board.

On Thursday (July 10), the group held a meeting at Battle Memorial Hall showcasing the benefits of solar. Residents heard from energy experts and those with rooftop panels, and were able to see the possibilities for their own home through a detailed solar map of Battle.

Community benefit fund

Nicky Bishop, who co-founded Battle Solar Town, said: “Our aim is to turn Battle into a solar town where most of the town’s energy, or a good chunk of the town’s energy, comes from solar power. So locally generated and locally sourced, that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Nicky explained that to deserve the name of a ‘solar town’ it would need to generate at least 25% of its energy from solar, and that currently that figure is about 2% for Battle.

She added: “We need about 20% of our homes in Battle to adopt solar and we’re also working to get solar on community buildings and on blocks of flats.

“But it’s not purely about energy generation. We also want to make sure that the profits from generating and selling the energy go back into the community, into a community benefit fund for the benefit of all the town and local people.”

Battle solar map

Battle’s local efforts resonate with the UK Government’s broader ambitions to more than double Britain’s solar generation with a ‘rooftop revolution’, outlined in their Solar Roadmap published last month. The Government said solar could save families around £500 a year on energy bills, and it would outline measures to help households fund solar installation later this year.

Battle Solar Town is working with Energise Sussex Coast (ESC), a non-profit community benefit society, to realise its own ambitions in the town, and ESC’s technical manager Churchill Utomi in collaboration with the Centre for Energy Equality (CEE), has created a solar map showing the potential solar generation for every rooftop in Battle Civil Parish. It encompasses both homes and non-domestic buildings like churches and schools, and residents can contact ESC to find out how many panels could fit on their roof.

He also mapped out the capacity of the local grid for the extra power generated by rooftop solar, and concluded that a 25% goal for the town is ‘very doable’.

Churchill said: “There are enough suitable rooftops in Battle to generate the amount of power necessary to meet Battle Solar Town’s goal and the grid should be able to take it.”

No regrets

Residents who are already benefiting from solar attended Thursday’s meeting to share their experience, including June Simpson, 79, who had six panels installed on her Battle home in 2011. She said she gets around £700 a year from what she exports, on top of the savings she’s making from using solar instead of buying electricity from the grid.

She said: “I’ve never, ever regretted it. I did it in the first place because it’s cleaner and to save some money. And I just thought it’s the right thing to do. I have saved some money without a doubt, my electricity bill is much cheaper than it would be.

“It’s paying for itself and it will do, hopefully for the rest of my life.”

Those interested in solar for their own home were able to speak to experts with their questions, and Martin Turner, Energy Advisor at ESC, said: “I would say their primary concerns are what’s the cost going to be, how many panels will I get on my roof, how disruptive will it be, and how much do I have to do once it’s installed. That is what people want, reassurance that it’s going to work for them.”

The project will explore several ways to help make the 25% target a reality, advising residents on costs and savings, looking at funding for low-income households, and innovative solutions such as community solar.

Richard Watson, director of ESC, said: “The Battle project will be exploring solar carports that could supply blocks of housing, and a community battery that could store exported local solar energy for use in the evening. The battery would be supplied for free, earn income from services to the grid and give 20% of that to the Battle community fund.”

To find out more about the Battle Solar Town project, and to get involved, visit: www.battlesolartown.co.uk

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