One of our eco-congregations, Saughtonhall United Reformed Church in Edinburgh, has started generating electricity from their own solar panels on the church roof. The panels were officially switched on by Rev Ewan Aitken, Chair of Eco-Congregation Scotland at a ceremony on Sunday.
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| Mark Kirkbride from the church with the new solar panels |
According to a report in the
Edinburgh Evening News:
Reverend Susan Kirkbride, minister at Saughtonhall, said: “Not only will the panels mean Sunday services are mainly heated and lit with our own electricity, but many of the groups using the church during the week will also benefit.
“The church drama group believe they may have Edinburgh’s first solar-powered pantomime matinee this November, when they stage their show Beauty Sleeping.”
The church said the solar panels, which cost less than £30,000, should pay for themselves in six or seven years.
The new system, supplied and installed by local firm Christie and Ross, will produce a maximum of 9.8kw of electricity, about the same amount as panels recently installed on Bradford Cathedral.
Surplus electricity generated by the church will be fed into the National Grid, earning cash for the congregation, and the church will take power for its own needs from the grid during the night when it is cheaper.
The decision to fit the panels came after the church’s elders arranged a review of carbon-saving opportunities by the Energy Saving Trust.
The official switch-on will be performed by the Rev Ewan Aitken, convenor of Eco Congregations Scotland.
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| Ewan Aitken spoke at the switch on ceremony |
He said: “We believe churches can be real leaders in this field. Saughtonhall are breaking the ground, which is great.
“It’s a way of leading by example, to say to others that we need to do different things in the way we do our energy in consumption and generating it. Churches are often at the centre of their communities, so a project like this can be a catalyst for the whole community getting involved in these kinds of initiatives.”
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| Rev Ewan Aitken, Rev Susan Kirkbride, Rev John Humphreys (URC Synod of Scotland) |
