A basketball club in Nottingham is estimating energy savings of up to £3,000 a year following the installation of a new solar array on its sport arena resulting through a funded power purchase agreement (PPA).
The 133.65kWp system was installed at the Nottingham Wildcats Arena by EvoEnergy after the club realised it could make more use of its ample roof space. The system is expected to generate over 109,000kWh of electricity a year, saving the club around a third – £2,000-3,000 per year – on its energy costs.
The PPA installation was completed by a three man team in around 10 days and was funded by Free Green Energy Corporation. This meant the basketball club was not subject to upfront or future maintenance costs, instead only paying a reduced rate for electricity generated by the array.
Chris Prior, chairman of Nottingham Wildcats, said: “Our decision to ‘go green’ was based on our realisation that we could be using the arena’s large roof space to save money on our energy bills, just as other sports arenas had done.
“EvoEnergy advised us that by rethinking our energy generation and usage habits we would be able to save around a third on our annual energy bill and this will allow us to further our charitable objectives of taking basketball our into the local community.”
The savings will be redirected into grassroots basketball initiatives within the local community, including training programmes in local primary schools feeding into Nottingham Academy, which the Wildcats have a strong relationship with.
“As a not-for-profit organisation, we would have been unable to finance the installation of solar PV panels ourselves and so the PPA project organised by Free Green Energy has provided the perfect solution: we can balance paying for the technology with investing in the local community,” Prior added.
EvoEnergy has recently secured an allocation of £10 million funding for other organisations and businesses to have a free, fully maintained solar PV system installed through a PPA. Funded by one of its third-party asset investment partners, the company claims there is also potential for this allocation to grow by a further £30 million over the next 12 months.
James Clifford, national account manager at EvoEnergy, said: “Participation in this project adds to our growing portfolio of local installs which have supported ventures that enable the benefits of solar PV use, reduced bills and carbon emissions, without the upfront cost for the organisation.
“In this case, it’s good to know that the money saved on energy bills will be redirected to support sports participation amongst school children.”
