Muswell Hill Golf Club

Solar PV • PUNL-owned • Completed March 2020

About

Muswell Hill Golf Club (MHGC) was founded on 1 December 1893 with membership for both men and women, making it one of the oldest ladies’ golf clubs.  It is a community golf club with a variety of membership options for all ability levels. PUNL was approached by a member of the club about installing solar panels on the Greenkeeper’s shed and agreed to take the project forward.

Funding & delivery

PUNL undertook the preliminary work in establishing the feasibility of the shed roof and the demand at the club. The roof could accommodate a solar PV array of 29kWp. We then raised feasibility funding of £7,400 through a grant from the London Community Energy Fund. The subsequent roof survey established that the roof needed to be reinforced by the addition of purlins before solar panels were installed. PUNL launched a successful share offer in December 2019 to raise £37,000 for the purchase and installation of the solar panels and for reinforcement of the roof. The offer was oversubscribed and closed before the deadline of 18 January.

Benefits & impact

The solar array benefits the club through lower consumption of fossil fuel energy, reduced carbon emissions and lower energy bills. Annual carbon savings were estimated to be 5.6 tonnes, equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 2.5 acres of new forest.

Project deliverables

Planning permissionPermission was not required as the site fell under the permitted development category
EPC certificateAvailable – C rated
DNOThe District Network Operator (UKPN) approved the connection in August 2019
Structural surveyThe roof structural survey was conducted in December 2019 and concluded that the roof needed to be reinforced before installation of the solar panels
On-site demand Consumption by MHGC is expected to be 90% of the solar electricity generated 
Feed-in tariffThe site benefits from the feed-in tariff
Share offerPUNL launched a successful community share offer on 10 December 2019 to raise £37,000. The offer closed before the deadline of 18 January 2020.
InstallationR-eco installed the panels and the project was completed in March 2020. As of June 2020 10.7 MWh had been generated, saving 2.8 tonnes CO2 emissions on installation, the equivalent of 126 trees planted.
Performance monitoring