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Welsh housing association begins 650-home retrofit
The largest housing association in Wales is set to start work on a 650-home retrofit project in Swansea, as part of what it says is the biggest energy retrofit project of its kind in the UK.
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.
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.
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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.
It comes as exclusive research from Inside Housing finds that retrofitting all social homes in the UK to zero-carbon standards is set to cost around £104bn, or an average of £20,472 per home.
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.
Solitaire Pritchard, head of regeneration at Pobl Homes & Communities, said: “Fuel prices and climate change are two sides of the same crisis, with people in Wales still among the most fuel-poor in the UK.
“We are committed to identifying new ways of making homes more environmentally and financially sustainable – and that includes our existing homes as well as our new developments.
“This means we need to be innovative in our approach to finding a transformative solution and we are delighted to partner with Sero.
“The scheme will introduce technology into our homes that will change lives and sustain communities while also looking after the planet for future generations.”
Welsh housing minister Julie James said: “The transformational nature of this project on social housing in Wales is significant and this has been recognised by the ERDF funding at a time when we need to address the climate emergency and create new jobs, training and innovation opportunities in our communities in response to COVID-19.
“As one of the UK’s largest energy retrofit projects, it shows a clear demonstration of the commitment from Pobl, local authorities and Wales’ social housing sector to reduce carbon emissions.
“This innovative project in Penderry will not only make a difference to its residents but is another step to having more low-carbon homes in Wales.”
