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The Nottingham Wildcats

Competing in the woman’s professional league, the Wildcats are a well-established and decorated all-female basketball team with a long history in Nottingham.

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Solar panels spanning multiple buildings in an array.

K e y   S t a t s

CO2 saved per year

52,903kg CO2 saved per year

Annual Output

109,192 kWh

Inverter Model

Kaco

Panel Installed

486 Trina 275W

System Size

133kWp

The Challenge

The Nottingham Wildcats are an all-female basketball team with a 40-year history at the time of installation, they were the only club of its kind in the UK to own their own sports arena (via Nottingham Wildcats Community Basketball and Sports Trust Ltd). The team investigated solar as a means of making significant savings on their energy bills, which would free up funds and allow them to increase their investment developing local grassroots sports.

With a large open roof space on the sports arena, the Wildcats consulted with us on the most efficient way to install a solar PV system. A ‘free solar’ proposition through a power purchase agreement (PPA) was investigated and having met all of the investment criteria, a 133.65 kWp array seemed to fit their needs. However, the organisation’s lack of available funds required our team to help the client find a partner to finance the install.

OUR SOLUTION

As a not-for-profit organisation, the team would have been unable to finance the installation of solar PV panels themselves. Therefore, the PPA project, organised by Free Green Energy, provided the perfect solution, as they’re now able to balance the requirements of funding the new technology with investing in the local community.

The 486-panel array systems generates 109,192 kWh per annum saving the club around a third – or £2,000 to £3,000 per year – on its energy costs. The savings will be redirected into grassroots basketball initiatives within the local community, including training programmes in local primary schools who the Wildcats have a strong relationship with.

The array was completed by a three-man team in just under two weeks and will be fully maintained by our operations and maintenance team for the term of the PPA agreement. The PPA deal means that Nottingham Wildcats have a solar PV installation at zero cost, fully owned and operated by the funder, Free Green Energy. Electricity generated by the array is being sold back to the local sports club at a fixed rate than is cheaper than their current energy supplier and subject to inflation, better than the energy market.

THE RESULT

The organisation’s decision to ‘go green’ was based on our realisation that they could be using the arena’s large roof space to save money on their energy bills, just as other sports arenas had done, and invest it back into their local community.

The installation process was hassle free and a three-man team from our operations and maintenance department installed the panels in less than two weeks. ‘Going green’ is allowing them to improve the lifestyle of the local community, as well as protecting the environment – it’s a real win-win.

For us, 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.

“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. This now allows us to further our charitable objectives of taking basketball our into the local community.”

Chairman of Nottingham Wildcats, Chris Prior

C o n t a c t   u s

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