Harborough Solar One – PROJECTS
HARBOROUGH SOLAR ONE – PROJECT 1
OUR FIRST PROJECT WENT OPERATIONAL IN 2016
Harborough Solar’s first project shows how everyone can benefit from community owned solar schemes. It is now providing an income to investors, the building owners on which the panels are installed and the wider community who will benefit from a 20 year fund to help fight fuel poverty. This first project was launched in October 2015 and was put together by Harborough Energy (as a Community Benefit Society under these rules).
The original proposal was based around two sites in the town: the Robert Smyth Academy on Burnmill Road and Archway House Natural Health Centre on Lubenham Hill (as detailed in our first share offer document). We raised the required capital but Robert Smyth were unable to proceed, so we had to put the installation on hold (the interim statement to investors around this is here).
Fortunately, we were able to retain most of our community investors and found an alternative project based around Woodnewton Academy and Archway House. This new plan was evaluated, agreed with our investors and 67 kW of solar power was installed successfully in August 2016, as described in this news article.
HARBOROUGH SOLAR ONE – PROJECT 2
OUR SECOND PROJECT WENT OPERATIONAL IN 2018
Harborough Solar’s latest project is a 103 kW ground-mount photovoltaic solar array located at NBJ London Limited Airfield Park Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire.
The installation was completed in December 2018 (shortly after this news article). Harborough Solar own the solar PV array and have a 20 year licence with NBJ.
We will maintain the solar system and provide NBJ with electricity at reduced cost through a Power Purchase Agreement with us.
NBJ specialise in the manufacture of high quality bespoke joinery and cabinetry for residential and commercial projects.
You can find out more about the project and how we secured the £100,000 community investment via our Share Offer (now closed) working with our ethical investment partner (Ethex).
More information about NBJ:
NBJ Project Underway (DEC18) – NBJ in Full Production (SEP19) – NBJ Beats the Snow (JAN21)
HARBOROUGH SOLAR ONE – ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The seventh Annual General Meeting for Harborough Solar One will be held in November 2022.
The previous AGM was attended by our members to hear from the Directors about the 2020/21 financial year’s accounts for Harborough Solar One and the performance of our two solar PV projects operating in Corby, Harborough and Husbands Bosworth. We discussed how we have been operating, the planned interest payments to the members plus other relevant topics.
The minutes of all our AGMs can be found here.
The full presentation for the 20/21 AGM is available via this link:
Harborough Solar One – AGM Presentation NOV21 (pdf)
HARBOROUGH SOLAR ONE – CLEAN ENERGY PRODUCTION
The presentations and graphics below summarise our 170 kW of community owned solar projects and allow you to see how we monitor their performance and the clean energy they produce.
Projects 1&2 (Woodnewton, Archway and NBJ) – as at AUG22
In this presentation, you can view project information for the clean energy produced and CO2 saved (since installation in AUG16 and DEC18, respectively):
Harborough Solar One – Output Summary AUG22 (pdf)
Projects 1&2 (Woodnewton, Archway and NBJ) – as at AUG22
This is a summary table showing the clean energy produced yearly by each location (since installation in AUG16 and DEC18) – to be discussed at the November 2022 Annual General Meeting and included in the presentations above.
Performance Monitoring (previous examples)
As part of our commitment to our community investors (who own the installations) and the host sites (who are buying the clean electricity from us), we carry out ongoing performance monitoring – based on the meter data provided by EMIG (Energy Meter Information Gateway).
- Half Hourly Capacity Factor – as at 31JUL20
This graph shows the Capacity Factor of each installation (as a % of the Rated Power) on a Half Hourly basis: Harborough Solar One – Half Hourly Capacity Factor 01JAN19-31JUL20.jpg
- Daily Capacity Factor – 31JUL20
This graph shows the Capacity Factor for each installation on the same day during the year (based on the Daily Output as a % of the Rated Power x 24). It allows us to compare the relative productivity of each installation:
Harborough Solar One – Daily Capacity Factor 01JUL19-31JUL20.jpg
(Further examples are included in the Annual Output Summary presentation above)
Note: The daily variations of output are due to the daily sunshine, which is very variable in the UK. Very occasionally, data transmission gaps may indicate equipment failure and there may be zero output, in which case monitoring supervision is alerted for rapid recovery and repair (where needed).
If you have any questions about our existing projects or would like to discuss potential new projects, you can email us via: info@harboroughenergy.co.uk