The Village Hall is pleased to announce that The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded £31,500 to the Hall towards the cost of a solar electricity generation system. The solar PV panels will be installed in part of the car park, feeding the electricity provided through a battery bank into a heat pump heating system. This means that the heating problem of the hall can finally be solved. In addition, the level of the car park will be lowered so that it is below the floor level in the hall.
The Lottery grant as a lead funder opens the way to other grant providers. We have made initial overtures to other funders which have been well received. We are confident that, together with a contribution from hall funds, we will be able to go ahead with the project in the next financial year.
In addition to providing electricity to heat the hall, in the summer we will generate enough electricity to feed back into the grid, so that our annual account for electricity will be reduced to virtually nil, something that is particularly pleasing at a time when the price per unit is doubling.
The battery back-up will also enable the hall to be used as an “emergency hub” in the event of further events like Storm Arwen. For this we need to obtain gas-bottle standby heaters and a gas hob to heat food which we are currently investigating. The batteries will provide sufficient power for entertainment through the AV system, communications through broadband, charging of mobile phones and lighting.