Celebrating Great Big Green Week with a visit to the solar farm

As part of Great Big Green Week in Stratford-upon-Avon we opened up Heart of England Community Energy’s solar farm for a guided visit for members of the public.

Across the country, Great Big Green Week brings together local events, inspiring stories and real action to tackle climate change and protect our natural world. Here in Stratford, we wanted to give people the chance to see solar energy in action.

Heart of England Community Energy owns and operates the largest community solar farm in the UK, right here in Warwickshire. The profits from this project go straight back into local initiatives that help reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty in our community.

The event gave local residents a rare chance to walk through the solar panels themselves and learn about how the site operates. Visitors heard directly from the team about how renewable electricity is generated and fed into the grid, helping to decarbonise our local energy supply.

We were joined on the day by several local leaders and partners:

• Dave Passingham, Director of Heart of England Community Energy and Stratford District Councillor (Shipston Ward)

• Mark Stevens, Warwickshire County Council (Lapworth & West Kenilworth)

• James Kennedy, Mayor of Leamington and Town Councillor (Dalehouse Ward)

• Stephen Norrie, Chair of Net Zero Stratford CIC

From left to right: James Kennedy, Vince Waghorn, Mark Stevens and Dave Passingham.

Thank you to everyone who came along for the visit and to the Great Big Green Week organisers for making it all happen.