Egni Coop have just commissioned two more systems totalling 150kW kw on two Welsh companies

Precision Engineering Ltd have 70kW of solar is based in Ferndale in the Rhondda and specialises in tool making and machining. Pontus Research have 80 kW on their roof in Hirwaun are involved in research in the aquaculture, marine and aquatics sectors.

Egni Director, Rosie Gillam said “We are delighted to be working with these two Welsh companies based in the Valleys. Both have significant electricity onsite use. By funding solar panels on their roofs, we able to reduce electricity bills significantly by using onsite solar and also reduce their carbon footprint from their operations. This sort of project has a significant benefit to the Welsh economy and helps tackle climate change. Both companies provide good quality local jobs, and have also been a pleasure to work with. We will be announcing a number of other similar installations in the next few months.

It caps a good couple of weeks for us – last week, Egni was recognised as the Outstanding Renewable Energy Project in an award sponsored by Welsh Government, at the Sustainable Academy Awards and our parent charity, Awel Aman Tawe, was recognised as Environmental Organisation of the Year in the Social Enterprise UK Awards.

Rosie added “The installs were undertaken by Welsh installers Urban Solar at Precision Engineering and by Ice Power at Pontus who both did an excellent job.”

None of this would have happened without feasibility funding. We especially want to thank Penycymoedd Wind Farm for funding the feasibility on Pontus and the Welsh Government Energy Service and Sustainable Communities Wales for funding the feasibility on Precision Engineering. This de-risked the projects and enabled us to fund the solar installation costs from our Share Offer which has now raised £1.3m. People can join our coop and invest from £50 – please visit www.egni.coop for more info and we hope you join us to help tackle climate change.”

Notes for Editor

Egni Co-op is a community organisation which funds and manages PV installations in Wales. It was set up by Awel Aman Tawe  (AAT), a community energy charity which has been operating for 20 years. Our prime drivers are tackling climate change and engaging people in energy.

The team behind Egni have also delivered the award-winning Awel Co-op, a 4.7MW community wind farm which was commissioned in Jan 2017. It was funded by a £5.25m loan from Triodos Bank and a £3m community share offer www.awel.coop

As part of its new Share Offer, Egni secured the Feed in Tariff (FiT) subsidy for rooftop solar panels on sites across Wales which will have an installed capacity of between 3,000 -5,000kW. This is the largest allocation in the UK and will be the biggest rollout of rooftop solar in Welsh history. The sites include local businesses, community centres, universities, a golf course, a brewery, rugby clubs, leisure centres and schools.

The new Egni Share Offer will deliver:

• Projected 4% return
• 5,000kW of new solar on roofs
• Carbon savings of 35,000 tonnes over the project lifetime
• Educational Fund of £2.9m for work in schools and universities on climate change projects
• Electricity savings of £8m for the sites over the next 30 years

Photos of AAT at the Social Enterprise UK event are on www.egni.coop. For more information, please contact Awel Aman Tawe/Egni on 07590 848818 or 01639 830870 or the Social Enterprise UK press office on 020 3589 4950.

Pontus Research Ltd

“To improve the scientific and commercial knowledge base within the aquaculture, aquatics and marine sectors and help drive innovation through providing effective and targeted R&D services”

Pontus Research Ltd. is a fully independent Research and Development (R&D) service provider, offering high quality professional in-vivo R&D services to the aquaculture, marine and aquatics sectors. We are committed to providing quality services and value for money by utilising over 30 years of combined experience of academic and commercial research, as well as commercial RAS production, guaranteeing a friendly, efficient and complete service to our customers, clients and partners.

Precision Engineering Ltd is based in Ferndale in the Rhondda and specialises in tool making and machining. PPE Ltd has offered precision engineering in South Wales and the UK since its formation in 1998. Specialist fields include Press Tools, Filtration Paper Pleating Machines for the Automotive Sector and Metal Pressings.