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 built from published scheme terms and 2026 FE group corporation benchmark costs. It does not describe a single real installation.
The modelled design
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.”