Community energy powers life-saving services across West of England

Bristol Energy Cooperative is helping save lives with new rooftop solar array on Great Western Air Ambulance Charity airbase

The partnership between Bristol Energy Cooperative (BEC) and Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) will meet the build of a new 240 kilowatt peak rooftop array.

The installation is forecast to produce over 200,000 kilowatt hours per year - enough to power 63 homes - helping the charity provide air ambulance and critical care services across Bristol, South Gloucestershire and beyond, as well as feeding power back into the local grid. The solar panels will cut the charity’s annual energy bills by around £7,500, and will save nearly 240 tonnes of CO2 over the project’s lifetime, tackling the climate crisis as well as medical emergencies.

Among the many people who owe their lives to the services of the charity is Keith, who suffered a cardiac arrest while playing five-a-side football two years ago. Several first aiders were present, and as well as administering CPR and using a defibrillator, they called 999. The Great Western Air Ambulance Charity's Critical Care Team arrived just in time and took Keith to hospital. After receiving life-saving care, six months later, Keith was back playing football - last year he even climbed Ben Nevis.

Keith said: "What Great Western Air Ambulance are doing as a charity is incredibly important. Having these solar panels fitted is a great example of how a local site can benefit the local community.”

This installation is one of many in the project pipeline of the South West Local Solar Scheme (SWLSS). BEC was awarded over £500k in grant funding from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority to deliver the SWLSS which aims to install 2 megawatts of rooftop solar capacity across the West of England by 2025. 

GWAAC’s mission is to provide cutting-edge pre-hospital emergency care to everyone who needs it. Their team of Critical Care Doctors, Advanced Practitioners, Specialist Paramedics in Critical Care and pilots (when responding by helicopter) can be anywhere in the region in just 20 minutes with the capacity to perform interventions that would usually be done in a hospital emergency department. The charity was called out to 1,159 incidents in the first half of this year alone, an increase of 201 incidents from the same period in 2023. 

Bristol Energy Cooperative is also a quarter of the way towards raising £1 million of crowdfunding investment, which will allow it to keep developing these innovative new clean energy projects and partnerships. The share offer is currently live on Triodos Bank’s crowdfunding platform.

“It’s really exciting to see the project at GWAAC come to fruition. Through the solar installation here, community energy is not only providing local jobs and tackling the climate crisis but also helping to provide a life-saving service for the people who live here. It’s all part of our mission to build a power station on Bristol’s rooftops. Everything we do depends on the support of our member investors - we have a share offer open now, which is a great chance for people to get involved and help power these important projects,” said Helen Martin, CEO of Bristol Energy Cooperative.

Anna Perry, CEO of Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, commented: “Being a sustainable organisation, in all senses of the word, is so important to all of us at Great Western Air Ambulance Charity. We are delighted to be able to do our bit for the environment in partnership with some brilliant local organisations. The rooftop solar panels not only help generate renewable energy, they also bring down our running costs, meaning ultimately more lives can be saved”.

West of England Mayor Dan Norris welcomed the news, saying: “The West of England is leading the charge towards net zero. I'm delighted that we have been able to fund the installation of 2 megawatts of solar capacity on the roofs of community buildings, charities and SME's across our region. It’s even better that half of these are in areas of deprivation, meaning the benefits of community energy is helping those that need it most.”