CBD has already completed a successful raise of more than £7.5 million with its last Bond. The company partnered with ‘Power Your Future’, a schools’ sustainability programme and began construction on a series of solar installations helping participating schools to generate their own solar energy, and in turn reduce their overheads. Projects have either been completed or are in the process of installation at 22 schools, all over the country, and aided by funding from the new Bond, CBD plans to install solar systems at a further 50 schools over the next six months.
The entire portfolio, once complete, will generate more than 3,300,000 MWh of renewable electricity per annum, and will prevent the emission of no less than 1,720 tonnes of CO2 each and every year. The savings for all the schools involved will be circa £100,000 over the course of the first year, and in excess of £2.3m over the 20 year lifetime of the installations combined.
“Partnering with schools and aiding their solar development was always a big priority for us, and the next Bond will help us to help even more schools” said Gerry McGowan, CBD Chairman and Managing Director. “The savings generated will free up budget and enable schools to invest more heavily in educational resources, paying for a further 83 teachers (based on average salaries) or as many as 156,000 extra books.”
Each school participating in the Power Your Future programme will also be provided with educational materials and access to the systems ‘Smart Meter’, allowing them to track the output and carbon savings produced by their particular solar installation. This will in turn, it is hoped, encourage a lasting change in the attitudes of the next generation towards renewable energy.
The programme does not require any capital outlay to be provided by schools and the systems are maintained and insured by CBD. The schools will benefit from the green power generated on site at a heavily discounted rate. To date, more than 100 schools have been installed through the Programme and are currently benefitting from cheaper, green energy.
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