Anna Perry, CEO of Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, stressed the importance of being a sustainable organisation. Image: BEC.

Bristol Energy Cooperative (BEC) has partnered with Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) to build a 240kWp rooftop array on the airbase.

The installation is forecast to produce over 200,000kWh every year, according to the groups, cutting annual bills for the air ambulance charity. It is part of the South West Local Solar Scheme (SWLSS) pipeline of projects.

“It is really exciting to see the project at GWAAC come to fruition,” said Helen Martin, CEO of BEC.

“Through the solar installation here, community energy is not only providing local jobs and tackling the climate crisis but also helping to provide a life-saving service for the people who live here.

“It’s all part of our mission to build a power station on Bristol’s rooftops. Everything we do depends on the support of our member investors – we have a share offer open now, which is a great chance for people to get involved and help power these important projects.”

Anna Perry, CEO of Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, stressed the importance of being a sustainable organisation.

She said: “We are delighted to be able to do our bit for the environment in partnership with some brilliant local organisations. The rooftop solar panels not only help generate renewable energy, they also bring down our running costs, meaning ultimately more lives can be saved.”

BEC was awarded over £500k in grant funding from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority to deliver the SWLSS, which aims to install 2 megawatts of rooftop solar capacity across the West of England by 2025. Since its inception, the organisation has brought 20 solar and battery energy storage projects online, bringing 12MW of energy capacity at peak to the grid.

The community energy group is a quarter of the way to raising £1 million crowdfunding investment, with the offer live on Triodos Bank’s crowdfunding platform.

In April, the South West was dubbed a “solar hotspot” by Independent Advisor, scoring above other regions based on  the percentage of households with solar panels installed in 2023-2024, the capacity of solar panels as of December 2022, and the average annual number of sunshine hours.

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