Solar power to people: Octopus creates solar street in East London

Octopus Energy has installed solar panels in 13 houses on one street in Walthamstow, East London to create a ‘solar street’.

All 13 solar PV systems – set to reduce respective household electricity bills by a third – were installed on Lynmouth Road in only a week.

The installations form part of the ‘Power Station’ project launched by Walthamstow-based artists Hilary Powell and Daniel Edelstyn, with the aim of installing solar panels on as many houses as possible on one street to create a green energy hub.

Powell and Edelstyn crowdfunded £113,000 for the project by sleeping on their rooftops.

The ‘Power Station’ project has the capacity to expand to 30 homes in total, meaning that 17 more households on Lynmouth Road could still join the project.

“This project fills me with so much joy and pride – it’s a powerful example of the tremendous impact people can have in accelerating the green energy revolution,” said Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, chief product officer at Octopus Energy Group.

“Hilary and Dan didn’t come from the energy industry, and yet they found a way to help their community move to green power and massively reduce their energy bills. We are delighted to have joined forces.”

The installations form a part of Octopus’s wider community energy offering. This includes the Octopus ‘Fan Club’ launched in January 2021, which offers a cheaper tariff for customers living local to a wind farm during periods of high wind generation.

In April this year, Octopus’s ‘Fan Club’ expanded to the US and Germany.