So last month we raised £220,000 from our local community and installed 220 kWp of new solar PV on 3 buildings.

Here's Solar Power Portal with more...

Community energy organisation Brighton Energy Coop (BEC) completed a hat-trick of new commercial rooftop solar installs last month.

The three projects, completed on industrial buildings in West Sussex, have a combined generation capacity of 240kWp and take BEC’s total portfolio to 1.6MW.

The systems were funded using BEC’s membership model. A total of 40 people helped fund the £220,000 cost of the three installations by becoming members of the co-op, and they will receive annual returns of 5% on their investment.

Will Cottrell, chairman at BEC, explained that this raising - the co-op’s sixth such offer - was finalised within three weeks. He described it as a “great achievement” for a small organisation.

The projects were completed on behalf of three local businesses; logistics firm RT Page and Sons; medical contractor Medisort, and recycling company BCMY.

They were completed by BEC’s long-term solar subcontractor GenFit using BYD 270W modules and SolarEdge inverters.

BEC now hopes to complete as much as 750kWp of further projects throughout the remainder of this year.

"BEC is now in a very strong position. All our systems are funded by equity, we have no debt as well as extensive understanding of both project development and PV operation. We're looking forward to many new partnerships this year - and community share offers to match,” Cottrell said.