1st Tarporley Scouts
1st Tarporley Scout Group has its own scout hut which uses electricity and gas for its power and heating. The Group's Trustees wanted to reduce the carbon footprint and considered air to air heat pumps to replace an aging gas boiler. However, this necessitated a new three phase electricity supply which proved very expensive to install and was not a viable option.
The Trustees turned their attention to installing a solar power array on the roof of the scout hut and a battery on the external wall. The Trustees obtained three quotations and applied for a grant towards installation from CWAC. The grant was awarded and the solar array and battery system was installed in mid June 2025. See attached photographs.
A massive reduction in electricity consumption was immediately identified and this has continued into October. See the attached bar chart which shows a reduction per months of July, August and September from around 200 kWh to 2 kWh, which is fantastic!
Furthermore, a contract was agreed with Octopus Energy Ltd whereby maximum use will be made of off-peak, cheaper electricity to charge the battery when the solar panels are generating less energy. The battery is sized to cope with the power / energy necessary to run most scouting sessions in the scout hut. In return Octopus will take available energy from the battery to feed into the grid at peak use periods. Everyone wins!
The grant also covered the purchase of LED strip lights to replace the existing fluorescent strip lights. This was work that the Scout Group was able to carry out.
Our sincere thanks go to CWAC for assisting us in the grant application process in a constructive and friendly way.