Solar Scheme Returns To Help Eastbourne Switch To Clean Energy

Eastbourne homeowners are being offered the chance to reduce their carbon emissions and generate clean energy at home, by installing solar panels.

Solar Together Sussex offers high-quality solar panels and battery storage to people across the county. It’s a group-buying scheme, which brings Sussex's households together to get high-quality solar panels at a competitive price. 

The scheme has reopened after more than 1,000 local households registered for the first round in 2020. 

Residents who have already invested in solar panels can opt for ‘retrofit’ battery storage to get more from the renewable energy they generate and increase their independence from the grid. 

The eco-friendly initiative is run in partnership with councils across Sussex and iChoosr, independent experts in group purchasing. 

Councillor Jonathan Dow, Cabinet member for Climate Change at Eastbourne Borough Council, said:

“A key part of this council’s commitment to deliver a carbon neutral town by 2030 and reduce our impact on the environment is the generation and use of more clean, renewable energy. 

“This innovative Solar Together Sussex scheme offers local people a great way to get involved in helping to achieve our 2030 goal by installing solar panels on their roof. 

"Homeowners are assured of a quality installation as all contractors are approved and the cost is highly competitive due to bulk purchasing.” 

Households will be able to register free of charge for Solar Together Sussex until 28th September 2021. The process is as follows: 

· Registration – the homeowner registers their interest in the scheme for free at solartogether.co.uk/eastsussex/home They provide some basic information about their roof, such as size and orientation. 

· Auction – a supplier ‘auction’ will be held on 28 September when approved solar installers will bid to supply solar panels to all the households who have registered their interest, with the most competitive bid winning. The more people that register, the better the deal should be for each household. 

· Personal recommendation - from the start of October, those who have signed up will be emailed a personal recommendation and quote from the winning supplier. This is based on the roof details given during registration. 

· Decision: Those who have signed up to the scheme will then need to decide if they want to accept the recommendation and quote. There is no obligation to continue. They will have until 26 November to decide. 

· Installation: If the recommendation and quote is accepted, the winning supplier will be in contact to survey the roof and set an installation date. 

Telephone and email support will be available throughout the process.