We’re thrilled to share the exciting news that we’ve successfully completed our 2025 share offer!
As of 14th August, we’d received share applications totalling £161,250. We’re also proud to announce that we’ve been offered £25,782 in equity match investment from the Community Shares Booster Fund, which is delivered by Co-operatives UK and partners. We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved for their support.
With a small contribution from GMCR’s funds, that means we have enough to install solar arrays at three schools: The Divine Mercy RC Primary School in Manchester, Springwood Primary School’s Swinton site (an extension to our existing array) and their Craig Hall site in Irlam.
Next steps
We have a few more consents that we need to secure before we can make a start on installing the solar arrays. We’ll send a further update when we have more news, and in the meantime, please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions – info@gmcr.org.uk
In July we held a series webinars as part of Community Energy England’s Community Energy Fortnight.
The webinars provided an overview of community energy, GMCR and importantly, how someone can involved in the community energy movement through our 2025 share offer.
Drawing on our 10 successful years of working in the area, we outlined how locally-owned renewable energy can and does work right here in Greater Manchester.
We’ve shown it works not only for the planet but also for the schools who save money on their bills and for our investors who get an annual return on their investment – we call it a win, win, win!
The webinars are useful to anyone interested in the community energy movement and how we can come together to chart a different path for the energy system.
So far we have raised over £80,000 toward our 2025 Share Offer. This means we have enough money to install panels on at least one school!
Thank you to everyone who has invested so far! We can’t wait to get the solar panels onto the schools and start generating clean renewable energy for the community.
Our next target is £120,000 which will allow us to install on another site. In total we are looking for £250,000 to install on four sites.
In other news, prior approval has been granted for the array at Springwood Primary School’s Swinton site. This is a positive step forward and means we have cleared one of the main administrative hurdles.
Share offer promotion
We were delighted to join the Stockport Green Network’s annual Greenstock festival, where we met the local MP Lisa Smart and spoke to attendees about the benefits of community energy.
We’ve also taken the opportunity to spread the word about our share offer at Friends of the Earth’s North West Gathering and a Better Business Network event.
*Photo of GMCR Directors Kate and Ali with Lisa Smart MP at Stockport’s Greenstock Festival 21 June 2025*
Photo of GMCR Directors Kate and Ali with Lisa Smart MP at Stockport’s Greenstock Festival 21 June 2025
Share offer drop in session
Toward the end of the share offer period we will be hosting an online drop in session. This is for anyone interested in the share offer to stop by and ask any questions that you may have. We’ll be on the call for two hours from 6.30pm on Tuesday 15th July but you can join whenever is convenient and stay for as long as you like. To join the drop in, register online here.
Hello and welcome to this special edition of our newsletter
Minimum investment target smashed!
Firstly, we’re thrilled to say that we have ALREADY surpassed the minimum investment target for our share offer. This means that we have enough money to install at least one solar array this summer!
We’re still aiming high though and with your help could install arrays at four sites in total. If you’ve not had a chance to already, then visit our website for more information on the share offer.
Recent data shows just how tight school finances are – installing solar panels is a great way to ease pressure on energy bills. We estimate that our new arrays could save our partners over £125,000 on their bills over 20 years. Together we can make this happen!
Want to find out more about Community Energy and the offer? Read on for details of our upcoming webinars.
Community Energy Fortnight Webinars
We’re hosting two webinars in July to coincide with Community Energy fortnight. You can sign up to the webinars using the links below.
Join us as we provide an overview of community energy, GMCR and importantly, how you can get involved in the community energy movement through our 2025 share offer.
Drawing on our 10 successful years of working in the area, we will be showing how locally-owned renewable energy can and does work right here in Greater Manchester. We’ve shown it works not only for the planet but also for the schools who save money on their bills and for our investors who get an annual return on their investment – we call it a win, win, win!
This webinar will be useful to anyone interested in the community energy movement and how we can come together to chart a different path for the energy system.
Anyone interested in the 2025 share offer will hear more about our plans to install arrays on four more community buildings around Greater Manchester.
There will also be the chance to ask questions that you might have about the share offer.
If you have any questions ahead of the webinar, feel free to get in touch with us – info@gmcr.org.uk
Hope to see you there.
Community engagement
Photo of Kate and Tudor with Afzal Khan at Celebrate Whalley Range festival 14th June 2025
We’ve been out and about sharing the news of our share offer across Greater Manchester. Earlier this month we joined Celebrate Whaley Range for their lovely summer festival – it was great to speak with Manchester residents about GMCR and our plans to install an array down the road at a school in Moss Side! Local MP Afzal Khan was also there and supported the project.
We’re planning to be at a couple of events in the future, so come down and say hello if you’re around:
Sunday 13th July 2:30pm – 4:30pm – Chorlton Central Church Sustainable Summer Fair
If you know of any events coming up where we would be welcome to come and speak with attendees, please let us know!
Domestic solar panel scam alert
We’ve been alerted of a scam targeting UK households with solar panels. This particular scam claims to offer an increase in feed-in-tariff rates for existing solar panels.
You can read more about the scam and how to protect yourself in this article
Today is a special day as we officially open our 2025 Share Offer.
In this share offer, our fifth to date, we are seeking £250,000 to fund solar arrays on four sites in Salford, Trafford and Manchester.
Building on the successful track record of our project over the past nine years, this investment will help three more schools and a leisure centre to save money on their bills and cut their carbon emissions.
We were blown away by the response to our recent survey and by how many of our members are considering investing in the new share offer. That’s why we wanted you to be the first to know about the launch, so you can help us get the share offer off to a flying start.
We’re extremely proud of what we’ve achieved so far – our 10 solar arrays have saved our partners almost £200,000 on their bills and prevented 800 tonnes of carbon emissions – and with your support we are excited to increase our impact even more.
You can find all the share offer documents on our website. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to get in touch with us.
Local social enterprise, Greater Manchester Community Renewables (GMCR), has launched a new share offer to fund solar arrays on two special schools in Salford, a primary school in Manchester and a leisure centre in Trafford.
If successful, this will result in the installation of over 600 solar panels. In the first year alone these panels will generate enough electricity to make around 16 million cups of tea [2]. This will help the schools and leisure centre save money on their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint. Investors in the share offer will receive share interest of up to 5% per year, subject to performance.
Val Williams, School Business Manager at Springwood Primary School, said:
“We first had solar panels installed at our Swinton site with the support of GMCR in 2019. That’s gone really well and we’ve already saved over £30,000 on our bills. This year we’ve decided to add more panels at the Swinton site and install a new array at our Craig Hall site in Irlam, so we can run even more of our buildings on solar power.”
Dr Clare Campbell, Head Teacher at The Divine Mercy RC Primary School said:
“Caring for our common home is an important part of our teaching and we wanted to do more to make our school more sustainable. Installing solar panels on the roof is a practical way we can cut our carbon footprint – as well as helping our pupils to learn more about climate change and renewable energy.”
GMCR was set up in 2015 and has over 330 members who have funded solar arrays at eight primary schools in Salford and Bury, a secondary school in Trafford and community centre in Trafford.
GMCR’s solar panels have so far generated over 2 million kWh of clean energy. That’s enough electricity to make 120 million cups of tea! In the process, schools have saved over £190,000 on their energy bills and prevented 800 tonnes of carbon emissions from polluting power stations. [3]
Once online, the four new solar arrays will add over 350kWp to GMCR’s capacity – bringing the total capacity of GMCR’s sites to over 1MWp. In the first full year of operation, the new sites are estimated to:
generate 290,000 kWh of clean, green electricity and;
save approximately 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Over the next 20 years, GMCR expect to deliver:
total energy bill savings of £125,000 for the sites and;
a Community Fund of £100,000.
Tudor Baker, Director of GMCR said:
“We’re thrilled to open our fifth share offer and give the community another chance to invest in clean, ethical energy right here in Greater Manchester.
“Since setting up GMCR, we have always wanted to increase our reach across the region and this share offer will help us enter into a new part of Greater Manchester.
“Potential investors can be buoyed by our track record so far which has seen the project perform in line with expectations. Surpluses have also added £60,000 into our Community Fund for schools to use on more eco-friendly projects.”
The community share offer is open to individuals, businesses and organisations who want to make a positive difference with their money.
Anyone who buys shares will be eligible for share interest of up to 5% and GMCR aims to repay the shares over the next 20 years.
Profits are donated to a Community Fund to support carbon reduction, energy efficiency and environmental education.
The share offer is open until 20 July 2025.
Anyone interested in investing should read the Share Offer fully and take appropriate financial advice.
For more information and to read the Share Offer and Business Plan visit GMCR’s website. You can follow them on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
ENDS
Notes to the editor
1. Greater Manchester Community Renewables Limited (GMCR) is a community benefit society, set up and run by volunteers to install community-owned renewable energy across Greater Manchester.
2. 16 million cups of tea is calculated based on estimated generation of 290,000kWh, and using an ‘average kettle’ of 2200 Watts and 1.7L which takes around 4 minutes to boil.
3. GMCR’s solar arrays have generated 2 million kWh of clean electricity to date. Carbon savings are calculated on the basis of our solar electricity displacing electricity produced by gas-fired power stations.
Wishing you a very happy World Environment Day! We have some exciting news to share…
New share offer coming soon
We’re thrilled to announce that we will be opening a new share offer later this month!
This round of investment could see us install 350 kWp of solar arrays on three schools and one leisure centre across three Greater Manchester boroughs. We estimate that this will generate 290,000 kWh of clean electricity and save another 100 tonnes of carbon emissions in the first year alone. Keep an eye out for more details in the next couple of weeks.
It would be very helpful for us to get a feel for the level of interest in our new share offer. Please fill out this form to make a non-binding pledge.
Community Energy Fund
We’ve been successful in securing a further £100,000 of funding from the Government’s Community Energy Fund. The money will be spent on developing new projects to a point where they’re ready for investment. We’re grateful for the funding as it also means we can get expert advice and support on areas such as marketing and website development.
Another day of sunshine
The recent extended spell of fair weather was a boon for our solar panels. The array at Wellington School, our largest site, has already generated over 130 MWh of electricity in 2025 – enough power to make 7 million cups of tea!
This sunny spell highlights the need to look across the year when discussing the benefits of clean energy systems; contrary to those who criticised renewables during the period of Dunkelflaute earlier this year.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the sunshine as much as our panels!
What we’ve been up to
In the lead up to the new share offer, we are getting out and about across Greater Manchester to talk to people about our project. You may have caught us at the Hulme Eco Fest or at the Manchester Museum.
Photo of Yannis, GMCR volunteer, standing at our information stall at Hulme Eco Fest on 24 May 2025
Here are a few more events where you can find us over the next few weeks. If you’re in the area, then come down to lend a hand or to say hello!
If you know of any upcoming events that we could come along to – particularly in Urmston and Salford – then please do let us know.
Collaboration with local environmental blogger
Last month we teamed up with Salford-based content creator, Charlie Gill, to show the power of locally-owned community energy. You can see her video on Instagram.
Photo of Charlie (@lifebeforeplastic_) talking about our project on Instagram
We love collaborating with like-minded people to tell our story. If you think you can help us spread the word more widely – whether it be through local newsletters, media segments, interviews, podcasts, social media posts or anything else you can think of – please let us know.
We’ll be in touch again when our share offer is ready to launch!
Hello, we hope you are well in these mid winter months. Spring bulbs are starting to bud and the days are getting longer (leaving the Dunkleflaute behind for a while!). Here’s a summary of what we’ve been up to over the last few months and what to look out for in the future – such as a meet up on April 1st.
Community Energy Fund Findings
In 2024 we applied for a grant from the Government’s Community Energy Fund (CEF) to explore the feasibility of installing batteries at our solar sites and to learn how to assess this ourselves for potential new sites.
We wanted to see if batteries could be used on our sites to enhance our offering. Ultimately, the findings did not point toward batteries as feasible, particularly on existing sites. There’s plenty more detail in the full report which you can read via our website by following this link.
A year of generation at Wellington
On 16th February 2024 our largest solar array to date was switched on at Wellington School in Timperley, Altrincham. Since coming online, the 934 panels have been working hard to generate over 250,000 kWh of power. That’s enough power to charge 13 million phones!
If you have not already seen them, there are some great shots of the Wellington site on our social media pages.
Community Engagement
In December we attended the Greater Manchester Green Summit held at the Lowry in Salford. It was great to be around so many people and organisations who share a passion to change our environment for the better. If you want to help us at future events please get in touch.
Photo of Tudor, Yvonne, Judith and Ali at the 2024 GM Green Summit. December 2024
Plans for the future
We are ready to go again and help more schools to get solar panels. Discussions are underway with numerous potential locations. Keep an eye in the future for more news in this space!
Fuelling Greater Manchester 6pm 1st April – come and join us!
On Tuesday 1st April we are hosting Fuelling Greater Manchester for the second time. This time we are in the city centre at the newly renovated Renold Building. Come say hello and meet other people who are interested in Community Power. You can find more details through this link.
The first Fuelling Greater Manchester meet-up took place in December in Oldham. We had a great night chatting to people about community energy.
Photo taken at the first Fuelling Greater Manchester event December 2024
You may have heard the term Dunkelflaute in the media.
It is a German word used to describe a prolonged period of time with little wind and sunshine (translated as “dull weather”). Days with cloudy skies with low wind can be serious for an energy system heavily reliant on wind and solar energy.
Is it a problem? Critics of renewables (yes they exist!) point to periods of Dunkelflaute as evidence that renewables can’t sustain our energy needs long-term. While it is true that “bland” weather can limit the effectiveness of solar and wind farms, it certainly does not make them unviable. Naturally the weather does eventually change and in the meantime there are stop-gap solutions.
One of these is battery storage – although in its infancy, this technology has the potential to store up energy for times when wind and sun are lacking. In fact we have been exploring battery storage at our own sites, you can read more about this on our website.
Pumped storage is another solution. Pumping water upstream when demand is high then using it to generate hydropower when the sun and wind are absent.
So, while it is good to be aware of “dull” weather patterns, it is by no means something to fear and certainly does not completely limit the feasibility of renewables.
Headlines (clockwise from top left): UnHerd, The New York Time and the Telegraph. https://unherd.com/newsroom/germanys-dunkelflaute-is-causing-an-energy-crisis-in-europe/ https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/business/energy-environment/europe-energy-solar-wind.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/22/britain-faces-bidding-war-europe-keep-lights-on-power-slump/
GMCR currently offers schools and community centres hosting our panels clean electricity at a discounted rate compared to their main supplier.
When the solar array is generating, the school has first call on the solar electricity, but if they don’t need electricity at that moment, the electricity is exported and GMCR sells it to an energy company at a lower price.
Installing a battery would mean that we could save some of the electricity being generated when the school didn’t need it so they could use it later. And if the school uses more solar electricity, it would mean GMCR’s income increases and the school’s electricity bill reduces. Win win!
So, we applied for a grant from the Government’s Community Energy Fund to explore the feasibility of installing batteries at our solar sites and to learn how to assess this ourselves for potential new sites.
We selected a range of our existing solar sites to assess, especially those in our portfolio with lower onsite usage, who we thought would benefit the most from a battery. We engaged Red Co-op to tell us if batteries would be viable (from both a financial and environmental perspective) at these selected sites and help us build battery storage into our site viability assessment tool.
What did we find out? Unfortunately, the report concludes that: – It is not financially viable to install community-owned batteries at the selected sites UNLESS battery prices fall. – The main reason the installation of a battery does not provide a significant improvement is that the timing of the solar electricity generation is already quite well matched to the time when the electricity is needed (i.e. during the daytime). – If the schools paid for the battery themselves, the payback periods would be 8-15 years. This needs to be considered in the context of the lifespan of a battery, which we understand is around 15 years.
The report provides the outcome of the feasibility assessments for each site, and how this has been built into GMCR’s site viability model. It starts by taking hypothetical scenarios as if each site was buying a brand new solar array and battery with its own funds and then applies GMCR’s model afterwards.
What’s the carbon impact of batteries? The carbon intensity of electricity from the grid varies throughout the day, depending on the weather and the level of demand. For example, more electricity is needed from fossil fuel power stations during the evening peak than at night when demand is relatively low.
Batteries can help to reduce carbon emissions by shifting demand, for example by storing solar electricity during the day and using it in the evening. The report estimates that a 100 kWh battery at one of our sites could save up to 2 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
However, there is also a substantial amount of embodied carbon from the manufacture of batteries. For example, a 100 kWh battery with a 15-year life could have a carbon footprint of between 5-50 tonnes, depending on production, processing and the raw materials used.
So if we did install batteries in the future, we’d have to be careful about how we procure them if we want to deliver carbon savings as well as financial benefits.
What did we conclude? From GMCR’s perspective, we learned that assessing the viability of batteries at sites is much more complex than a solar PV site viability assessment. We hoped there would be some trends or rough estimates we could use to assess whether to install batteries at future sites, but we learned that each site has to be modelled in detail individually in order to generate the inputs needed for our model. Thanks to the work from Red Co-op, we have a comprehensive spreadsheet to use for this now (and instructions!)
We will keep both the financial and environmental sustainability in mind in future when deciding whether to invest in batteries, should prices come down.
