by Alan Quick

ON November 30, three members of Sustainable Crediton’s Energy Group, Charles Mossman, Ed Sharp and Hertha Wood presented an "Energy Partnership Proposal " to the QE Resources Committee.

The proposal made by the Energy Group was to install up to 275KW of solar photo voltaic (PV) panels on QE School roofs during 2016 free-of-charge to QE.

The Group said the panels would be funded through a community share offer and that QE would benefit from cheap electricity contributing an estimated £6,500 per annum savings for 20 years.

It said investors would earn up to five per cent interest on their investment and a community fund would be produced from "profits" to benefit further energy related projects in Crediton.

The Resources Committee had several questions which the Energy Group answered in detail at the meeting and followed up in writing before the proposal went to the full Board of Governors in December.

The day after the full Board meeting the Energy Group heard that the Governors considered the proposal carefully but decided that they were unable to support it.

They said that the main deciding factor for them was the considerable risk posed to their major capital works programme this summer which, in their view, needs to be completed before the panels could be installed.

Governors felt that the incredibly tight timescales imposed by the Government for the PV project to be completed meant that the risks to their programme of essential works and the longer-term risks were too great and were not outweighed by the potential savings generated.

Ben Brook, director of finances and resources at QE, said: "Whilst Governors, Rupert Poole (principal) and myself are very disappointed not to have the opportunity to develop this community proposal with you they felt that their first priority must be to the school.

"I understand that this will be a disappointment for you and your colleagues who battled to get to this stage in such a limited timeframe. Thank you again for all the efforts you put into developing the project."