Obviously the Covid-19 outbreak is affecting our work, but we are still completing the installs to plan. Here’s a picture of some recent installs – to share some positive news which is much needed at the moment!

50kW at Canolfan Glasdir Centre in Conwy installed by Zero Carbon Renewables:

22kW at Maesglas Primary in Newport installed by Joju:

10kW at Cymer Library installed by Ice Power

22kW at Maindee Primary installed by Joju Solar

30kW at Cwmgors Rugby Club installed by Urban Solar:

59kW at St Josephs Comprehensive owned by the Church in Wales in Newport, installed by Joju:

And we’re starting our install at the Newport Velodrome tomorrow which could be as large as 500kW, the biggest rooftop solar project in Wales. We’ve got 100kW with the FiT subsidy which has to be installed before the end of March – we’ll be installing the rest in a second phase. We’re doing that portion subsidy free as we’re doing on a number of our larger installs – there are obvious cost benefits in scaffolding, design, installer time, maximising the roof space and grid capacity. We are looking to have maximum impact on climate change from our installs.

A couple of our sites have connections Welsh sporting legends – Cwmgors Rugby Club with the greatest player of all time, Gareth Edwards. And Geraint Thomas, Wales’ first Tour de France champion who has cycled at the Velodrome many times.

We’re very pleased that, given current panel supply issue, Joju Solar, our lead installer in Newport pre-ordered all our panels and is storing them at a very large warehouse in Newport.

Regarding Covid 19, the schools and the councils have taken the view that as we are working mainly on the roofs, the solar installs don’t pose a significant additional risk to the pupils and staff. We have been minimising any interaction with the schools. If the schools do close, we are making arrangements with the caretakers to give us ongong access to complete our work.

Unfortunately, one area of our work we’ve had to stop is the educational sessions that we were running in schools during the install. Here are a couple of examples: Maindee Primary children wiring up solar kits and using a lightbulb to power a turbine, and St Patricks in Cardiff having fun with solar panels. We will be re-starting this work once all parties agree it is safe to do so as it’s a really important aspect of our work.

Egni Director, Rosie Gillam said “We would like to thank the schools and other sites for their cooperation and enthusiasm – everyone has pulled together to help make the installs go ahead smoothly. Our installers Joju Solar, Ice Power, Zero Carbon Renewables, Urban Solar and Styles Electrical have worked really hard as well, often in very wet conditions over the past month.  

As part of Egni’s work an online educational portal is being provided so students can learn more about renewable energy generated on the roofs of their schools. Egni Co-op will also be providing specific teaching/lesson support which ties in with the new Welsh curriculum via a dedicated energy officer who will be visiting schools.”

For further details regarding Egni , please contact Dan McCallum 07590 848818