420 kW Multi-Site Solar Programme — East Midlands FE Group Corp
- System size
- 420 kW
- Annual saving
- £92,000
- Payback
- 5.8 years
- Location
- East Midlands
Scenario
An East Midlands FE group corporation operating four campuses — main teaching block, dedicated 16-19 sixth form centre, motor vehicle and engineering workshop campus, adult community education annex — faced an annual electricity bill of £1,050,000 in 2025, against 16-19 base funding rates that had risen just 6% in real terms since 2010. The corporation board approved a Climate Action Plan in November 2025 with a commitment to a 50% scope-2 emissions reduction by 2030, aligned with the AoC and EAUC Climate Action Roadmap (Nov 2024).
The newly-appointed Sustainability Lead had moved over from the finance team six months earlier and identified rooftop solar as the lead intervention. They commissioned a portfolio-wide feasibility study covering all four campuses.
This case study is an illustrative composite based on representative FE group corporation engagements. Specific identifying details are anonymised.
What we delivered
Total programme: 420 kW across four campuses, sequenced for phased installation across two summer holiday windows.
- Main teaching block (Campus 1): 180 kW (330 × 545 W panels on 16° south-east aspect membrane roof, 2 string inverters in main plant room)
- Sixth form centre (Campus 2): 110 kW (200 × 545 W panels on south-aspect pitched tile, 1 string inverter, 60 kWh battery storage in adjacent service cupboard)
- Motor vehicle / engineering campus (Campus 3): 95 kW (175 × 545 W panels split across two workshop sheds, rail-mounted ballast-free, 1 string inverter)
- Adult community education annex (Campus 4): 35 kW (65 × 545 W panels on flat membrane roof with 100 kWh battery — required to shift evening-class self-consumption from low to high)
Single point of contact across the group for the duration of the programme. DBS-cleared install crews. KCSIE 2025 safeguarding induction at every campus.
Funding structure
100% Salix Decarbonisation Loan covering all four campuses:
- Capital cost: £370,000 at £880/kW (portfolio-scale unit cost)
- Loan term: 8 years
- Annual repayment: £46,300
- Modelled annual energy savings: £92,000
- Net cash-flow positive year one: £45,700/year
- Total 25-year nominal benefit: £1.6m (real terms with modest electricity price inflation)
The Salix bid was submitted as a single application covering all four campuses, with energy savings calculated per campus and aggregated to the portfolio total. The corporation board approved the programme in a single minute at the November 2025 board meeting. Salix accepted the multi-site bid in 11 weeks.
Programme phasing
Summer 2026 (build window 1):
- Campus 1 (main teaching block) — 6 weeks scaffold + install + commissioning
- Campus 4 (ACE annex) — 2 weeks install (smallest, lowest risk, used as first commissioning pilot)
Summer 2027 (build window 2):
- Campus 2 (sixth form) — 4 weeks scaffold + install + commissioning
- Campus 3 (workshops) — 4 weeks scaffold + install + commissioning
No campus had more than one continuous week of disruption to apprentice end-point assessments, T-Level synoptic projects, or A-level exams. The build sequencing was designed around the corporation’s combined academic calendar before contract sign.
Compliance and DNO
- Each campus G99 DNO application managed in parallel — accepted at all four sites within the 12-18 week window
- Asbestos R&D survey + management plan check on all four pre-2000 buildings; one campus required Type 3 enclosed protocols for two roof penetrations
- Structural engineer survey on every roof slope across the four campuses
- KCSIE 2025 safeguarding induction by the estates director at each campus before any contractor access
- ESFA Post-16 Audit Code: Salix energy savings calculation auditable, corporation board minute formally recorded
Outcomes
- Year one actual generation: 8% above design model (strong sunshine year)
- Year one actual energy savings: £99,400 versus modelled £92,000 (+8.0%)
- Featured in the corporation’s first published Climate Action Plan progress update as the headline action
- T-Level Construction cohort produced a documentary about the install as their synoptic project — used at the corporation’s autumn open evenings
- Live-generation dashboards installed in reception at all four campuses, with weekly classroom data feeds for A-level Environmental Science and BTEC Sustainable Engineering modules
- Phase 2 (additional 250 kW on two further roofs not part of the original feasibility, plus integration with planned air-source heat pump on the sixth form sports hall) approved at the November 2026 corporation board meeting
What the corporation said
The Sustainability Lead reported to the board: “We had three things on the table for our first Climate Action Plan year — solar, an LED lighting refresh, and a building fabric pilot on the sixth form. Solar was the only one that paid back inside the corporation’s strategic plan window, the only one that was 100% Salix-funded with zero capital exposure, and the only one that gave us evidence we could photograph. That’s why it became the headline action.”