Bruton and Castle Cary town councils are harnessing the power of the sun and leading the way in cutting carbon in their communities.

With a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030, the town councils have partnered with West Country solar installer IDDEA and The Green Group to offer residents heavily discounted solar PV panels. Under the Solar Streets BrutonCaryPlus scheme, residents and businesses from Bruton, Castle Cary and up to five miles away in the surrounding area can buy the panels and generate clean electricity, cut carbon emissions and lower energy bills.

For each installation, a donation is made towards local environmental projects. Now, the first solar PV panels have been installed which included a battery to enable residents to use a greater proportion of the electricity generated by the panels.
Mayor of Bruton Ewan Jones said: “I am delighted that Bruton and Castle Cary Solar Streets can celebrate our first installation right at the start of 2021. Harnessing the power of the sun demonstrates how Somerset towns and parishes are providing the 21st century energy and initiative to address the climate and ecological emergency that challenges us all.”

Judi Morison, chairman of Castle Cary Town Council, said: “The council is pleased to support this partnership working initiative Solar Streets. Its aims fully fit with our environmental action plan for Castle Cary to be carbon neutral by 2030. We enthusiastically endorse this scheme and are glad that our community has started to engage with and benefit from it.”

Over the years, many residents have wanted solar panels installed but were worried the cost of installation would be too great.
Now, a 12 panel 4kWp system costs from £4,000. Smaller and larger systems are available with add-ons such as batteries for storage of electricity and iBoost to heat water.

Bruton and Castle Cary town councils are following in the footsteps of Frome, which launched the scheme in the town in 2019, with more than 100 systems installed to date.

The discounted scheme is possible because IDDEA can install solar PV in bulk, saving time, transport and associated emissions. Households benefit from reduced energy bills and if electricity prices increase, the savings will increase over time and each installation will save about 1.5 tonnes of carbon every year.

For more information about the scheme go to solarstreets.co.uk/brutoncaryplus.

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