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Could Totnes be the first town in Britain to go fully Solar PV?

Imagine every house in Totnes having a solar electricity system on the roof, supplying up to 50% of our electricity.  One street in Totnes is not just imagining it, they’ve already begun a campaign to petition the government, and they want everyone to join in……

A group of neighbours from Copland Meadows formed the first Transition Together group, meeting once a fortnight to look at ways in which they could save energy and reduce their carbon footprint. After seeing the film ‘The Age of Stupid’, (where there is a scene showing neighbours blocking the planning permission for a wind farm) they decided solar PV was the most acceptable form of clean electricity, and decided to start a local petition about it (see picture below).

‘Solar photovoltaic electricity would have a massive impact on our carbon emissions as well as making a significant contribution to our energy needs, and it would create thousands of new jobs in manufacture and installation’. But how would we pay for it? The Copland Meadows group have got an answer for this too!

‘The basic idea is that if the government used Totnes as a pilot study and funded solar PV installations on every roof, they could recoup some of their investment through our electricity bills, without the bills going up in cost. 

The savings in electricity costs could fund the scheme. So if for example you save £20.00 per month on your bill, a part of that £20.00 could be a monthly payment towards installation costs. If the scheme were then extended nationally there would be increasingly less outlay for the government as more and more houses contribute through their electricity bills. But these electricity bills would still be lower than before. Eventually the payback time would stop, and our electricity costs would be significantly reduced’.

Please join in the Campaign by printing off the petition, signing it and sending it off to Downing Street. Petitions sent in handwritten envelopes are taken more seriously than e-petitions. We need to get 1,000 letters to Downing Street and then we can arrange a meeting with Ed Miliband’s department. You don’t have to live within the Totnes boundary to send the petition (Copland Meadows is in Dartington). 

Please print off the petition and factsheet and show it to your friends and neighbours. Eventually we hope to extend the campaign nationally. In Copland Meadows we are going to talk to everyone in the street, asking them to send off the petition. It’s a great way of getting to know your neighbours!

For more information about this campaign please click here to view the accompanying fact sheet.

This campaign is an initiative of one of the Transition Together groups, and is supported by TTT.