Corby project awarded €750,000 EU funding

An EU grant has been awarded for our upcoming development in Corby, Northamptonshire. Funding will be provided for the renewable equipment in 47 homes that will be built in Priors Hall Park, Corby. CHESS-SETUP is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to implement a reliable and efficient heating system that will be able to supply buildings year-round via renewable energy sources. The Corby development will act as one of the three demonstration locations, alongside Manlleu and Sant Cugat del Vallès in Spain.

The motivation for the project lies in the fact that heating accounts for a significant proportion of the total energy demand in Europe – 60% of energy in the building sector is used for space heating and domestic hot water. Therefore it is essential that we provide buildings with renewable heat and hot water.

Caplin Solar’s innovative renewable heating system will store thermal energy generated from PV-T panels underground using our patented Earth Energy Bank. These homes will include townhouses, 3 and 4 bedroom homes, and apartments, which will allow our system to be implemented and studied in a variety of house types.

Cardiff University will collect data from all the homes at Corby for submission to the CHESS SETUP project. De Montfort University, Leicester will also be studying one of each building type in greater depth to generate a computer model of the complete Earth Energy Bank system.

Nick Bolton, Co-Founder of Electric Corby CIC said, “Being a part of this project is a big win for Electric Corby and the local community, putting Corby once again at the leading edge in sustainability and innovation. Within this project, once we demonstrate its success we can apply the system in all new homes, including social homes where the benefit of such energy efficiency will be felt most”.