Kilanerin Community Centre goes solar

A Sustainable Energy Community in Co. Wexford opted for Solar PV to help reduce energy bills at their community centre.

The new solar panels on Kilanerin Community Centre.

Background

Kilanerin Ballyfad Community Development Association, based in North Co. Wexford, registered with SEAI as a Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) in 2018. By 2019 they had already completed an Energy Master Plan. The Energy Master Plan allows communities to assess and audit their energy use by working with an external energy consultant. The costs are 100% funded by SEAI. With the insights from this audit, they then created a plan in line with the aims of their community.

The SEC completed an energy audit on the Kilanerin Community Centre which was built in 2013. The centre serves as an invaluable community facility in this rural area providing services such as a café, gym, sports hall, Men's Shed, youth club and many other community services.

Results & Achievements

€3,300
saved in one year
€237
payback from the grid
€11,250
LEADER grant received

The project

As with most local community centres, the bulk of the energy demand takes place during the day. Kilanerin is no different and the team managing the centre were keen to reduce the overall energy costs.

The local Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) team organised an energy audit so the centre could understand their energy use better and identify where they could save money and reduce their energy use. This would then not only help to reduce its operating costs, but it would lower their carbon emissions and help progress the centre towards a more sustainable building.

As part of an energy audit on the building, they analysed their electricity consumption and current usage. They could see that electricity was driving up the costs and was an area they need to improve. The audit identified the opportunity to install solar pv panels so the centre could generate their own electricity.

In March 2023, they installed PV solar panels on the roof of the Community Centre.

Although this was a costly investment, (€15,000), the centre received funding of up to 75% of the total costs from LEADER. The investment enabled the centre to provide 21% of the total electricity needs in the first 12 month, saving them €3,300 in the first year along.

The financials for the project were:

Finance source: Internal
Percentage Funding: 75%
LEADER grant amount: €11,250
Total project cost: €15,000

Results

Within 12 months the solar panels have saved €3,300 in electricity costs. There was also a payment to Kilanerin Community Development Association of €237 for surplus electricity sent to the grid. The 11.2kW solar PV system has been a very worthwhile investment for the Community Centre.