We have recently signed a contract with Reading Buses to install and run a huge array of solar panels on the roof of their depot on Great Knollys Street. 

The roof’s size allows for enough panels to provide 271 kWp which, once installed, will be 4 times bigger than our current largest install (on the University of Reading School of Art building) and increase the total capacity of all our sites by around 50%!

The new array running for just one hour at full capacity will produce the equivalent of enough electricity to power a typical UK home for more than a month.

We will be announcing a new share offer later this year to raise the funds for this exciting new project. Please watch our website and follow us on social media for the latest updates. 

We are delighted to welcome 73 new members to Reading Community Energy Society.

These latest investors financed, along with many existing members, our recent successful share offer which raised nearly £100,000.

The share offer raised funds for a new solar installation on the University of Reading’s new School of Art building. This solar array has already generated around 37,000 kWh electricity – the equivalent of 14 homes’ annual electricity usage.

Our new investors bring the total membership of Reading Community Energy Society to 227 people, most of whom are local to Reading and surrounds.

A heartfelt welcome to the new members of our society, and to all existing members for their continued support.

Reading Community Energy Society has launched an exciting new limited-time Share Offer, giving residents a chance to sustainably invest in local renewable energy projects. 

The Share Offer aims to raise nearly £100,000 to help fund a new solar array on a Reading University building. 

Investors will not only be funding solar panels on Reading rooftops, but also getting projected returns on their investment. We expect investors should receive interest targeted to be 4% per year for the first three years, rising to 5% from March 2028. 

By investing in Reading Community Energy Society, members will also be supporting  the wider community in working towards a low-carbon future. Excess returns are used for Community Grants that support local sustainability projects; from installing energy efficient lighting in a food co-operative, to adding insulation to a community group space. 

The Reading University solar array takes the combined generation capacity of Reading Community Energy Society’s projects to more than 600 kWp energy – enough to power the equivalent of 146 homes each year.

Join a society that is passionate about cutting carbon emissions, committed to investing in our local community, and optimistic for a cleaner, greener future. We look forward to welcoming you!

The Share Offer will currently be open until February. Minimum investment is £200. For more details, and for information on how to apply, visit our Apply for Shares page.

More information about our Community Grants can be found on our Grants page.

Reading Community Energy Society is delighted to announce the installation of a solar array on the roof of the new School of Art building at Reading University. The array has a peak power of 73 kWp which, when working at full capacity for just 1 hour, will produce enough electricity to power a typical UK home for 9 days.

The new installation boosts Reading Community Energy Society’s total solar capacity on roofs across Reading by more than 10%, to over 600 kWp energy.

As well as our solar panels, the newly refurbished building also features other sustainability initiatives including bicycle parking, extra windows for natural light, and a renewable energy heating system fed from a nearby Energy Centre on campus.

The School of Art building also has a purpose-built gallery space for student artwork, as well as workshops, studios and a visitor space.

Reading Community Energy Society continues to work with other local building owners on future solar installations and will be looking to launch another share offer soon, particularly encouraging locals to invest in the scheme.

Reading School has benefitted from a series of grant-funded interactive workshops imagining sustainable futures. In the workshops, led by local Social Enterprise Design Nature, pupils explored the potential for more renewable energy in the future and devised Action Plans as to how to get there.

The workshops focussed on design challenges and innovations, allowing students to get creative in thinking about sustainable futures in their school and wider communities. Topics explored included waste management, food production, transport, renewable energy solutions, education and the potential for generation in space.

Five workshops were held for Year 8 pupils, with a total of 150 students reached by the programme.

Innovative ideas from pupils included putting solar panels on wind turbines, creating greenspaces for growing food near schools, generating energy through gym equipment like rowing machines, and even shortening school days to reduce energy use!

The workshops were funded by a grant from Reading Community Energy Society and aimed to grow awareness of renewable energy and climate issues in the local area as well as combining creative design and teamwork with science subjects.

The initial workshops acted as a pilot project that Design Nature is keen to expand to other local schools. Mark Mason, Co-Director of Design Nature, said “We are very much looking forward to what 2023 will hold for us and would be keen to roll out ‘Renewable Futures’ further”.

A ranking of the solar energy capacity of councils in England, Wales and Scotland puts Reading borough in the top 20% of council areas. The analysis, which uses government data published this autumn by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, puts our solar energy capacity in 70th place out of 363 councils, with an installed capacity of 1.84 kilowatts/hectare.

To take the top spot, Reading would have to increase capacity more than four fold to beat the current leader, Swindon, which has an installed capacity of 8.32 kilowatts/hectare.

Despite Reading’s high ranking, the dataset shows that solar energy capacity increased only modestly in Reading Borough between 2020 and 2021. In 2020 Reading had a solar energy capacity of 7.2 megawatts (MW), climbing just 3% to 7.4 megawatts in the following year.

The full dataset spans the last 8 years and shows that the largest increase in solar capacity and generation in the borough was between 2014 and 2015, with more modest gains thereafter.

To mitigate the effects of climate change and keep within a safe global average temperature rise, renewable energy projects need to be scaled up phenomenally. A flagship report by the International Energy Association looking at pathways to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 says that for solar power the global deployment needed “is equivalent to installing the world’s current largest solar park roughly every day”.

Would you like low cost energy from a renewable source installed for free right on your roof?  Reading Community Energy Society is actively looking to expand our portfolio of buildings on which we install solar panels for free.

With rising energy prices and businesses being squeezed by increasing costs, many of us are looking to renewable energy generation for solutions.

Reading Community Energy Society provides and installs solar panels on roofs around Reading at no cost to the building owner.  The building user then purchases the electricity generated at a price lower than current rates.

Our roster of buildings includes business parks, churches, schools, the University of Reading, and a leisure centre to name a few.  And we’d love to add you to the list!

The most viable buildings typically have a large, unshaded, roof space of at least 50 square metres. South facing roofs in a good state of repair are perfect, as are buildings that would themselves use most of the electricity generated.

Buildings can be used for any purpose from commercial buildings such as factories, technology centres and retail stores, to schools and colleges, offices, museums or care homes.  Ideally the building user should have high daily electricity consumption throughout the year to be most suitable.

For more information about the scheme visit the Future Projects page on our website, and to inquire about the scheme and your building please email info@readingenergy.coop.

We welcome applications throughout the greater Reading area and look forward to hearing from you!

Reading Community Energy Society (RCES) will say goodbye to our founding Chair, Tony Hoskins, and we welcome Tony Cowling, who will take up the position later this year.

Tony Hoskins has chaired the society since its inception 6 years ago, helping it get off the ground and flourish into the success it is today.

Reading Community Energy Society was a new concept at its inception, and one initial challenge Tony Hoskins faced was evaluating the best benefits that the society could bring to all of its stakeholders; building owners, shareholders, and the community grant scheme. This challenge again became apparent in 2019 when the government changed its Feed In Tariff, which previously subsidised the electricity generated by the society’s solar arrays. Tony and the board had to rethink the society’s business model and change its focus to equipping solar arrays to high daytime consumption buildings.

Tony Hoskins has been instrumental in facilitating the roll out of the society’s two rounds of share offers – where investors put money into the society with guaranteed returns. He’s especially pleased with the smooth running of the second share offer that has almost 100% of investors coming from the local area.

Not one to sit on his laurels, Tony Hoskins also spearheaded recent partnerships with Wokingham Community Energy and Chiltern Hills Community Energy. He said: “The one thing of which I am most proud is probably encouraging the board to extend RCES’s geographic coverage – Reading is not an island and we should not take an isolationist attitude”.

The society is in safe hands with new chairperson Tony Cowling, who has been on the board since the inception of RCES. Tony Cowling is the formal chair, but will share the role with Mike Landon, another current member of the board.

Tony Cowling and Mike Landon hope to guide the expansion of the society’s portfolio of solar panels by finding and developing new sites, as well as continuing the work of the community fund that awards grants to local organisations and promotes the society’s valuable work.

Tony Cowling said: “It is a great honour to be appointed as the new chair of Reading Community Energy Society. It’s exciting to see renewed interest being shown by local organisations following the energy price hike, and we are in an excellent position to continue to expand our portfolio”.

On behalf of all the members of RCES it just remains to say a big thank you to Tony Hoskins for all his hard work and input into the society!

Reading Community Energy Society (RCES) has recently awarded a grant to fund a vegetable growing project at Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre in Emmer Green. The school used the grant of £500 to purchase vegetable planters in a project spearheaded by Year 8 student Callum Potter.

Callum and the Estate Staff built trugs and planted vegetables in them including lettuce and leeks, as well as mint, oregano and sage. The produce is now being used in the school kitchens to feed Highdown Students.

Estate and Facilities Manager Michael Jones said “Thank you Callum for the hard work and thank you RCES Community Grants scheme for your support”

Being smart with where we grow our food is imperative for the future of the planet, as the expansion of land for agriculture is the leading driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss . And encouraging a love of vegetables is a great thing too. Swapping out beef and lamb from our diets would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by an incredible 20%.

Reading Community Energy Society grants are used to support local sustainability initiatives throughout Reading, and funding ranges from £100 – £5000. If you would like more information please see the links on our website or contact grants@rva.org.uk.

True Food Co-op in Emmer Green has slashed the amount of electricity used for lighting their shop by 65% after upgrading to LED lighting.

The not-for profit community shop received a grant from Reading Community Energy Society to help undertake the project, completed in August 2021, and they haven’t looked back.

Chair of True Food Co-op, Francis Jakeman, said:

“We have been delighted with the new LED lighting as it is so much brighter than before. There are no more dark corners where customers can’t see what they are looking for; and knowing that the new lights will last so much longer gives us one less thing to worry about!”

Switching to LEDs lowers energy bills as well as carbon emissions and can be done at home too. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that swapping to LED lights at home could save you £30 a year on your electricity bills.

True Food strives to minimise their environmental impact in all activities including through energy efficiency, product sourcing and reducing packaging waste. They even have solar panels from Reading Community Energy Society on their roof.

For more information on the True Food Co-op visit www.truefood.coop.