This Big Solar Co-op project is building up a lot of momentum! We are moving to the next phase of getting our first solar projects ready to install, with some really interesting sites coming forward – commercial buildings, public buildings and sites in third sector ownership. We’re busy putting proposals in front of decision makers at our host sites, which is very exciting.
We have secured new funding from the MCS Charitable Foundation to support this first round of installs under our Pioneer Programme – that will help to fund project management and legal costs on those sites.
**New green job alert!**
To help get these projects off the ground we are recruiting a Solar Projects Lead. This is a fantastic opportunity to be in at the beginning of Big Solar Co-op project delivery, helping to grow our team and capabilities so that we can achieve our ambitious target of 100 MW of new solar by 2025. We are seeking a solar generalist to focus on delivering the nuts and bolts of schemes but who is also able to feed in to the development of our project at multiple levels, including strategy, business development, sales and training. Please do spread the word if you know anyone who is committed to being the change and could be a good fit! All the details are on our Sharenergy jobs page.
The Solar Projects Lead postholder will join our dedicated and expanding Big Solar Co-op team. We’re really proud to say that we will be directly employing Aaron Yule in the New Year – he started with us as an intern via Keele University and has become an integral part of the team. Here is a presentation that he gave recently to Climate Action Groups about the Big Solar Co-op:
Our other main focus has been in developing training and materials for our volunteers. We already train community solar activists to assess solar sites, and we will be expanding that programme considerably in 2021, adding training sessions on site finding, interacting with and signing up host sites, understanding legal agreements and more.
The first public event will be a Community energy solar site finder webinar on 19 January, led by Gordon Coppock (Pomona solar, KLEEN, Kington Community Energy). He knows his stuff and this promises to be a really useful talk for anyone interested in identifying potential sites for community solar PV, in post-subsidy times. Free tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Hope to see you there!