A few weeks ago, Saint Andrew’s church in St Andrews welcomed visitors from across Scotland for our Solar Panel Open Church Event. On the day of the event, the south-facing solar PV panels had plenty of rays to catch. Their position on the lower roof of the church building, also means they are inconspicuous to passers-by, which is important as the building is B-listed and in a conservation area.
The Solar Panel Open Church Event started with Holy Communion, led by Rev Richard Evans. After this we had tea and coffee and found out about each stage of the project thanks to our contributors. David Cole-Hamilton, who led the church through the project, gave a detailed presentation about the history of the project, the challenges and blockers faced, and how these were overcome. This was followed by a tour of the installation.
We reconvened in the church hall for a delicious lunch, provided by We Are Zest – a social enterprise café just down the road from Saint Andrew’s church.
After lunch we heard from Andrew Morton about the funding provided by Local Energy Scotland. Following this, Sam Stone and Jenny Racionzer from A.S. Associates spoke about navigating planning consent.
We then heard from Gordon MacDougall, representing Eco Power Innovations, who described the installation process and explained how the solar panels actually work.
Everyone who attended and contributed to the day reported how informative and inspiring it had been, with many leaving keen to feed back to their vestries and eco groups.
We would like to thank Saint Andrew’s congregation for welcoming us all, and for sharing with openness the challenges and successes of their solar panel project.
Bethany Nelson, Empowerment Coordinator
