The Masonic Centre in Eaton Socon, St Neots has recently made great strides in the battle against increasing utility bills with a `Solar solution` now in place!
In 2009, the Operative Grand Master Masons, utilising the Footing Corner Stone Fund purchased the Building at 166 Great North Road from Euston Lodge. The premises are also used as the HQ for the Operative Order and so any building improvements required, are only undertaken with their approval and support.
A number of building works had been identified including the asbestos roof to be replaced, the under croft brought into proper use and the building electrics refurbished, with all the lighting being replaced with LED alternatives. That project was carried out between April and November 2022 and gave a window of opportunity for the Centre Rooms Committee and Euston Lodge in particular, working with the owners to consider the addition of a Solar solution on the roof of the building.
What happened next started In August 2022, when Euston Lodge confirmed an investment of £35,000 in a 17.5 kW photo voltaic solar array on the South Facing elevation of the roof of the Masonic Center building. Additionally a 22kW battery solution (pictured below) was added to capture excess solar energy and provide power when the sun is not shining.
Mick Marks, MBE who oversaw the project works, said,
`The forecast return on the investment is 6 years and the life of the equipment is expected to be over 25 years. The estimated yearly C02 reduction will be approximately 5,148 kg which is the equivalent to the carbon reduction of 236 trees. The installation took less than 5 days to complete and commission. The whole process was fairly seamless start to finish, the only delay was in the G99 application which confirms the Power System locally can accept the power generated from the installation, this took 8 weeks.
The lodge building is now predominantly `off grid` for much of its energy usage. So as an idea, today at 1100 am we were generating 8.860 kW and only using 716 W in the building so the battery is being charged and is currently at 69%. Then at 1300 with the clouds covering the sky the battery was at 95%. The panels were still generating 700W but the lodge was using 900W so the lodge was drawing 200W from the Battery. Therefore, today the lodge will probably not have to draw any power from the National Grid`.
Chair of the Euston Rooms Committee, Jim Clement, Past Provincial Senior Grand Warden, further explained,
`It’s early days, but first indications would suggest that we will be very pleased with the investment that has been made by the Trustees of Euston Lodge in this installation and our thanks go the Grand Master Masons (GMM) as Owners of the Building and in particular WBro. Mick Marks, who has acted on behalf of the GMM’s as Project Manager, without whose support, this scheme may not have evolved.
The Rooms Management committee, as Trustees, will monitor all aspects of this scheme, most especially our monthly bills, which we anticipate will show a sizable savings, which will eventually be reflected in the reduced running costs of the centre and ultimately we hope lower costs to individual members of the various units that meet here.
Having said that, a word of caution. We do anticipate it will take several months, or perhaps a year, before we will be in a position to categorically say what the cost savings are and how accurate the estimated 6 year payback will be`.
Authorised persons have access to a live feed of the power situation via an App – see Screen shot above - and those involved are very happy to discuss their experiences with other Centres throughout the Province, including the potential for funding loans for similar works.
