A small town of 10,000 people named Wadebridge in North Cornwall, UK, has set itself the ambitious target of becoming the world’s first solar powered town. It aims to meet at least one-third of its energy needs by solar energy by generating 1 MW of solar power by 2012 and 7 MW by 2015. It has formed a Renewable Energy co-operative that will provide free solar panels to any member to instal on his roof or on any open land that he has. The electricity produced from these panels will be used by the member and the “feed-in-tariff” that the electricity company pays will go to the Co-operative for recovery of the initial costs.
Currently, the adoption of renewable energy has been hampered by the high costs of installing devices like the photo-voltaic solar panels despite government subsidies. The Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN) made up of the local community that funds this initial cost would help overcome this obstacle. The co-operative would also help address issues of installation of the solar panels on individual roof-tops, wiring to get the energy into the consumers premises, metering and such details without these becoming the home-owners’ problems.
The co-operative could also provide the collective muscle to deal with suppliers, the electricity company and other regulatory agencies.
Via: Edie
