Owen Mumford, a global industry leader in medical device design and manufacturing, this month became the third Oxfordshire business to partner with the social enterprise Low Carbon Hub on an onsite solar PV power station. Low Carbon Hub, also working with two other large local businesses and 10 per cent of the schools in Oxfordshire, developed solar installations at two of the company’s sites.

The Hub’s proposal to Owen Mumford - and to all businesses and schools - was to install solar PV at two of their sites, at no cost to the business. As the owner of the solar panels, Low Carbon Hub receives the generation and feed-in tariff revenue. In return for the use of its roof space the business saves 53 per cent on its annual electricity bill and avoids sixty-six tonnes of CO2 every year by using the clean energy for their business operations.

Low Carbon Hub funds the upfront cost of the projects by creating social impact investment opportunities for local people, who receive a good financial return. The social enterprise reinvests 100 per cent of their surplus revenue from renewable energy generation (after costs and investor returns) in additional community energy projects.

Low Carbon Hub CEO Dr Barbara Hammond said,

“Our business model is a key reason many of our school, business and community partners choose to work with us. We don’t just want to scale up renewable energy generation, we have a long-term vision to link these renewables into a community-owned renewable energy system for Oxfordshire. By financing our projects through share offers, we can also give local people a stake in a locally-produced renewable energy system, and the opportunity to help shape the energy future of Oxfordshire.”

Greg Webster, Environmental Steering Group, Owen Mumford added, 

“Responsible environmental stewardship is an integral part of our vision, sitting alongside our corporate and financial goals. As part of this, Low Carbon Hub installed solar panels on both our UK sites located in Woodstock and Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.  This not only benefits Owen Mumford with lower electricity costs and reduced carbon emissions, but the nature of the Low Carbon Hub business model means that Owen Mumford will also be de facto supporting the roll-out of community renewable energy to schools, church halls and community centres across Oxfordshire. 

With the installation of the solar arrays, Owen Mumford has the potential to reduce its carbon emissions by an estimated 1,320 tonnes during the life of the agreement. This very much reflects our aspiration to demonstrate leadership towards a zero carbon future as envisaged in the COP21 Climate Agreement signed in Paris last November.”

As part of a strategy to lower its carbon footprint, Owen Mumford had already installed 30 kWs of solar PV at its Chipping Norton site, at its own expense. By partnering with Low Carbon Hub, the business has added another 112 kWs across two sites in Chipping Norton and Woodstock, and transferred ownership, maintenance and management responsibilities for its existing 30 kW installation to Low Carbon Hub.

Low Carbon Hub will launch its next community energy share offer on the 18th of April, offering local people the chance to invest in 18 new renewable energy projects across Oxfordshire, for a projected financial return of 5 per cent (return calculated annually as RPI+3 per cent). For more information you can sign up to receive the Low Carbon Hub newsletter at www.lowcarbonhub.org.