Church’s ‘green’ hall gets greener
Neil Farrington (Community Power Cornwall) and Mark Smith (ZLC Energy Ltd) with the completed solar array
St Gluvias Community Hall is green already with its community garden, green energy supply, cavity wall insulation and double-glazing. Now it’s even greener, with a new, highly-insulated roof and solar panels to slash its heating energy and feed the grid with the surplus to generate income and reduce bills. This will help keep the cost of use low for the many community groups who use the hall as well as reducing the burden on planet Earth, our common home.
Jane Cross, of the Olive Branch Community Café, a Monday-morning regular, said: “This solar roof project is wonderful! It sends a clear message of a clean energy future, affirming community values and enabling the Hall to be used affordably by any community group that needs the space.”
Sue Harris, Brownie Pack leader, said: “We have a long and affectionate relationship with St Gluvias Hall: we love the space. Now it’s even more co
Alex and Pete Shields in the hall garden
mfortable, needing less heat and reflecting what the children already know from school: that we need to care for our world in a proper way.”
St Gluvias Community Hall is a big ‘Penryn secret’, tucked away between West Street and Calver Close. It has served the parish of Penryn since 1964 when land was given to the Parish Church and funds raised to build a church hall near the town centre.
The hall’s grounds have been the home of Incredible Edible Penryn since 2014 when the group turned its derelict garden into a fertile source of free, fresh food.
Following a Church Council decision, electricity for the hall (and Church) comes from Good Energy, a 100% renewable supplier. Good Energy will also receive and make payment for the solar electricity generated and exported to the national grid.
Registration for the Feed-In-Tariff has been managed by Community Power Cornwall under the community pre-registration scheme.
Both roof and solar pv projects were competitively-tendered. The contract for the roof replacement which included removal of the old asbestos-cement sheeting and provision of the new, composite, insulated roof was awarded to IH Builders of Manaccan. The solar pv contract was awarded to ZLC Energy Ltd of Mabe. The PV array capacity is 9.8kWp, having 35 panels with Solar Edge optimisers to maximise generation. Registration under the Feed-in-Tariff scheme has been made by Community Power Cornwall, a co-operative.
Billy and Tony (ZLC) start the flat roof array
