NICE’s Proposal

Many charitable organisations, community centres and sports hall have roofs suitable for solar panels.

NICE will provide free installations of solar panels, electricity savings for the roof providers. The collective purchase of insurance, maintenance, performance or monitoring systems – NICE will handle all of such matters and associated costs. A 20 year rent-free lease of the panels, after which the ownership of the solar installation outright passes to the building owner. (Total expected life of panels is 35-40 years).

The PV installations will allow to use the PV-generated electricity in your own building at a considerable reduced rate compared with the cost of the electricity taken from the National Grid. A fixed rate of 5.5p per kWh which represents an average saving of 10p per kWh (calculated on an average current cost of 15.5p kWh). This will insure against future energy cost increases.

It is our experience that non-residential buildings are likely to use the majority of the electricity generated from the size of PV installation proposed by NICE, thereby maximising savings to the building owner.

The roof provider will become a member of the Society and a co-owner of the enterprise, involved in its running and decision making processes.

PV systems would be owned and maintained by NICE for a period of 20 years, and will take advantage of the lower prices available from large scale purchasing. The ROCS generation and electricity export tariffs will return to NICE, repaying the interest on shares and any capital loans, covering overheads and contributing to a community fund for future renewable energy, energy efficiency and community projects directed to household in fuel poverty, and also a recycle fund from which surpluses can be channelled back to participating building owners for their own specific energy-related and community benefit measures.

The advantage of this scheme is that the money from the tariffs stays in NI and benefits the local community. Investment opportunities will be made available, funding for future projects will be generated, and later phases of the project may have potential for job creation.

As we plan to run a community share offer to raise the necessary funds, there will be investment opportunities for the community you serve and for your centre, this means that a small share interest will return to the very people interested and supporting what you do.

Later phases of the project could include the offer of energy efficiency measures such as insulation, renewable heating energy systems such as solar water heating, biomass heating, ground source heat pumps, and energy monitoring services to all its members.