Pobl will oversee the retrofitting of 650 homes in the Penderry Ward in Swansea in partnership with Sero, a renewable energy tech and service supplier.
Solitaire Pritchard, Director of Regeneration at the Pobl Group chatted to Business News Wales about the new retrofit project.
Solitaire said:
“This is part of a big regeneration project that we’re involved in. The energy project is a key theme of the regeneration programme, of which we’re involved with Swansea Council.”
As part of the project, Sero will fit solar panels to most of the homes, which will be used to charge individual or communal batteries that will be installed in all homes.
This means that renewable energy can be stored for subsequent use by the entire community and that those whose homes do not receive as much sunlight will not be disadvantaged.
Supported by £3.5m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the Welsh government, it is anticipated that the project will see the community generate as much as 60% of its electricity requirements, reducing bills as well as carbon emissions by as much as 350 tonnes per year.
All homes will also be fitted with new smart thermostats and intelligent heating controls to deliver energy savings for residents, while balancing demand from the grid so that stored energy is used at the most expensive times.
Western Power Distribution, the electricity distribution network operator for the Midlands, South Wales and the South West, is using this project as its national pilot to trial the positive effect on local grid infrastructure of renewable energy supplies and storage that are intelligently managed through systems installed in people’s homes.
The Penderry scheme will also be used to inform the roll-out of Swansea Bay City Region’s Homes as Power Stations project, which aims to retrofit 7,000 homes across the region.
Swansea Council has previously warned that the cost of fully retrofitting its housing stock is estimated to cost between £300m and £500m, which it said will likely impact the number of new homes the local authority is able to build.
