Skip to Content

RSS

Ecovation

Installer works on a large PV solar panel in Manchester

Ecovation was a pilot project running from October 2010 to Feburay 2011 run by Manchester is my Planet in partnership with New East Manchester, Envirolink North West and Groundwork.

The project was largely based within East Manchester and aimed to promote renewable energy generation technologies to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

In July 2010, Manchester’s Sustainable Energy Action Plan was published. The action plan informs and helps to shape energy priorities in Greater Manchester. Evocation was a natural follow-on from the report, showing how photovoltaic generating technology can be implemented in the industrial and commercial sectors.

Over 20 businesses in East Manchester and beyond participated in the project which encouraged SMEs to work together in their own commercial interest to reduce costs at the same time as cutting emissions.

The project also modelled financing options for interested SMEs, making use of the new income stream of the feed-in tariff.

Aim & objectives

The main aim of the project was to prove the efficacy, for SMEs, of the new financial and co-operative models for joint energy saving and generating activities, such that success may be replicated elsewhere.

  1. Increased take-up of Envirolink’s low-carbon services.

  2. Installation of PV or other microgeneration technologies.

  3. Testing opportunities for a joint venture business to obtain greater buying power and generating capacity for a community of businesses.