The Bristol Area Solar Installers Co-operative (BASIC) has begun the installation of the first solar panels in its innovative Lockleaze ‘Streets of Solar’ scheme. The solar scheme marks the first of a potential 300 arrays to be installed across the Lockleaze area of Bristol.
BASIC was formed when nine local solar installers came together in order to provide a platform for community investment across the Greater Bristol area. The co-op aims to install in excess of 750kWp of solar across the local area, including many schools and community buildings. Continuing the co-op’s local focus, an important facet of he group’s ethos is that local jobs are retained through using local suppliers and sub-contractors whenever possible.
It has been feared that new changes to the feed-in tariff, that limit community installation schemes to 90 percent of the available tariff rate, would severely restrict community installations. However, BASIC’s rollout of solar shows that some of industry’s fears may be unfounded.