A Knaresborough church recently fitted with 91 solar panels hopes the energy generated could power nearby houses and organisations.

Gracious Street Methodist Church installed the solar panels, which it expects will generate around 32,576 kilowatt hours each year, with funding from York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Net Zero Fund.

In true Yorkshire style, the church claims that is enough electricity to brew more than 1.3 million cups of tea.

But the church hopes the solar power will go further than just tea, and has its sights set on benefitting the wider community.

In partnership with Knaresborough Community Energy Ltd, the church said any excess power generated could be shared with 78 nearby homes and small businesses - as well as Knaresborough Fire Station – that use the same electricity circuit. 

It is part of a new Northern Powergrid-led project called Community DSO - a series of energy trials commissed by energy regulator Ofgem.

The scheme is exploring how local, low-voltage networks would cope with more of a strain, rather than relying solely on the high-voltage national grid, and aims to keep energy generation and use in close proximity. 

“The aim is to ensure that clean, affordable energy can benefit them all”, the church said.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire North and East Methodist District, which runs Gracious Street Methodist Church’s Building Sustainable Hope programme, said the scheme is "about much more than reducing carbon”.

They added:

The church said the legal, technical and regulatory challenges that come with the scheme are “considerable”, adding current systems are built to export solar power to the national grid rather than to share it locally.

But, it added, if the concept works, “the potential is enormous”.

The scheme will be trialled at the Knaresborough church, and is one of three trials across the north east and Yorkshire. 

The others are in Barnsley and Whitley Bay.