Dumbleton Village Club, rural Gloucestershire
Dumbleton Village Club
6.4 kWp (16 panel) sponsored installation for the community building
Community hub
Little more than three miles from Mypower’s headquarters in Toddington, Dumbleton Village Club is a community focused not for profit organisation in the small rural village of Dumbleton. Run on behalf of the members by an elected committee, the club exists for the benefits of all in Dumbleton and surrounding villages in the local community.
The club was formed in 1967 when a small barn was converted and gifted as a space for workers on the Dumbleton Estate to meet and socialise. More than fifty years later the club now provides a meeting place for local people of all ages, whether to enjoy the facilities including skittle alley, snooker table and darts, or events like live music, quizzes, foodie evenings, craft fayres, children’s parties and charity events. Many of the regulars are elder members of the community who live alone and, without the club, would have very little opportunity for social interaction.
Not for profit, not without cost
Through careful management the club manages to cover its costs, while keeping it affordable for patrons. However, being an aged building off the mains gas network and operating seven days a week meant rising energy costs represented an existential threat to keeping the club open.
Long standing support
Mypower first lent support to the club in 2017, with our installation team spending a day cleaning up and carrying out low level repairs to the building. Through our affiliation with local energy efficiency charity Severn Wye Energy Agency, we then introduced the club to grant funding to improve the energy performance of the building. The successful grant application led to Mypower project managing the replacement of the oil boiler with the installation of five Air Source Heat Pumps, a cellar cooling system and building fabric insulation; the latter installed at no cost by Mypower.
Power to the community
With the energy saving measures reducing the club’s energy consumption as far as possible, Mypower then endeavoured to find ways for the club to meet the remaining demand from its own solar panels. Sizing the panels to the available roofspace, we designed a 6.4kWp system, generating over 6MWh of electricity per annum; enough to displace approximately 30% of the club’s demand. However, with the club operating primarily in the evenings this electricity wouldn’t be consumed in real time, so we sized a 5kW/10kWh battery to harvest the energy generated and discharge it when needed.
Clubbing together
Recognising this best technical solution, at a cost of around £17,000, was going to be far from affordable for the club, Mypower turned to the strength of its relationships with our long standing and mutually valued suppliers, stating a simple but bold ambition: to deliver the full solution at zero cost to Dumbleton Village Club. We were delighted and extremely grateful to the following suppliers for providing their products and services at zero cost:
- Solar panels - 16 x 400 W solar panels from Q Cells
- Inverter - 1 x 5kW inverter and 16 x panel optimisers from SolarEdge
- Battery - 1 x 5kW / 10kWh battery from CCL Components & a private donation
- Panel mounting - 1 x roof mounting system from Sunfixings
- Electricals - Electrical components from Edmundson Electrical
- Scaffolding - Scaffold and safety equipment from JBM Scaffolding
- Access equipment - Plant hire from Rocket Rentals
- Design, project management and installation - Mypower
Despite an incredibly wet year, the solar pv installation met all expectations producing 5,860 kWh of
electricity, providing 26% of the clubs electricity needs, despite most of the demand being in the evenings.
With approximately 10% of the total project costs remaining, true to form, Mypower’s MD and his wife organised a horse racing night, fittingly held at the club, which raised the balance of funds required. As we had with the energy saving measures, Mypower provided all project management and installation works free of charge, including sanding down and repainting the gable end and completing roof repairs to take advantage of the scaffolding being in place.
Key facts and predictions:
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6.4 kWp (16 panels) installed.
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5,721 kWh units of energy produced per annum.
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£1,424 projected first year income and savings.
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£16,800 - a 10-year income and savings after indexation.
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1.2 tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided per annum.
“Our club is truly the heartbeat of our community, and provides support, sanctuary, companionship, warmth and enjoyment to individuals and groups from across the area. In a time of such high energy and living costs we faced becoming committed beyond our financial means. We’re proud to see a local business like Mypower being so successful, and enormously grateful to them for using that success as a platform to work with their generous suppliers to fund the £17,000 cost of the project and to help secure the future of our club.”
Paul Meyer, Treasurer of Dumbleton Village Club
“Mypower has always considered business as having a critical role to play in society and local communities. We have grown considerably in recent years due to the demand for low cost and low carbon energy, our excellent service and the strength of our supplier relationships. To be able to use our expertise, influence and success to contribute to the financial security of Dumbleton Village Club has been very rewarding for our team, and makes us very proud to serve our community.”
Ben Harrison, Managing Director of Mypower
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