A Woking church has achieved its dream of powering their entire building using electricity generated by the sun following the installation of 134 solar roof panels and eight large storage batteries.
The cutting-edge technology will allow Woking United Reformed Church in Wessex Synod to produce and store five months’ worth of its annual electricity needs, saving several tons of CO2 emissions every year.
Led by Woking’s “Green Team”, the work began in 2023 following a doubling of the cost of electricity. The Wessex Trust agreed to make a grant of 50% towards the cost of environmental projects and encouraged the team to extend the scope of the project to include batteries.
After studying several options and considering the requirements of the town planning department, the panels were installed on the east and west facing roofs, with the work completed in September 2023. The electricity generated from the array is estimated at 40.7 MWh/year.
Local Surrey County Councillor, Will Forster (pictured) also enabled the church to install the batteries by providing 50% of the cost from his community fund allocation.
The Revd Lucy Brierley, Minister of Woking URC, said: “We are very grateful to the Wessex Trust for their financial support and encouragement for the entire project. Also, to the John Beane Trust for a grant towards the solar panels, and Your Fund Surrey for making it possible to install the batteries.”
It will not be until mid-2024 that the full benefits of the entire system will be known. So far, despite a very dull December, the panels have produced 9% more electricity than projected, as illustrated in the chart (below). The total electricity produced between commissioning in mid-September and the end of 2023 was 6.4MWh, saving three tons of CO2.
The eight batteries, which were installed in early January 2024, have a capacity of 46.4 kWh. This means that for about five months each year the Church should be able to produce and store enough electricity to cover 100% of its requirements.
Woking URC is listed as an A Rocha UK Eco Church with “Silver” status, but its Green Team are working towards a Gold Award following the installation of the solar panels and batteries.