Hello all

Thank you for the couple of replies I had about possible grant sources. I do have the notes from Wardens Talking session about the possible grants.

Further to this, do any other meetings have solar panels installed and would be happy to supply some information? E.g. How much the Meeting House has saved on their electricity bills, how much gets exported to the grid etc. Any useful feedback would be appreciated. It's a significant capital outlay and we would like to feel we can justify it on business grounds as well as the obvious following of our Quaker principles of our commitment to the environment. That would help us in moving forward as a Meeting on making a decision as it is quite a significant capital outlay. Incidentally the scheme we have been accepted for is from Suffolk County Council and the installation company is Greenscapes energy. We are also including battery storage as part of the package.

Many thanks

Rachel Bach

Ipswich Quakers premises committee

On Thu, Jan 19, 2023 at 4:05 PM Rachel Bach <rachellbach84@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello all
I am writing on behalf of our premises committee at Ipswich Local Meeting.
We have put in an application for solar panels for our Meeting House as part of a local authority scheme, the survey was done today and we have been accepted. We have been quoted in the region of £23k which is a lot of money! This is due to the roof that will be taking the panels being very high up, lots of scaffolding and two days work, includes battery storage with adequate capacity for our meeting house and 18 panels, so we can see why they arrive at that price.
My question is what grants etc are out there for greening buildings? We have funds but they will be heavily depleted, we can also possibly apply to our AM for funds as well but it is worth finding out if there are specific pots of money out there to apply for. I have had an initial look but cannot see anything, however this sort of thing is not my expertise and others may have more knowledge or information.
You would think that this sort of thing would be encouraged!!
Rachel Bach
Ipswich LM premises cttee