Solar Panels at Eynesbury Rovers Football Club

To install solar panels and battery storage at the Eynesbury Rovers clubhouse as part of a wider reroofing project. The clubhouse is home to a wide range of community activities that go far beyond football.
We currently support over 200 footballers across 16 junior and 3 senior teams, including Eynesbury Rovers Girls, and welcome more than 1,500 unique users annually. Community groups using the facility include Langdale Dance, Lee Kemp Boxing Academy, a Martial Arts Club, St Neots Brownies, and Tesco Community Initiatives. We also host regular fundraisers for local causes including Kick4Life, the Brain Tumour Charity, Sue Ryder, and Winhills School PTA, hire is free ensuring funds raised stay with the charity.
The rising cost of energy remains a major barrier to extending and improving use of the facility. We have been forced to turn down requests for daily community use, such as an NHS drop-in clinic, due to high and unpredictable heating and electricity costs. We are often forced to limit building use, keeping it closed mid-week in the winter for training sessions, this further reduces opportunities for community involvement. This project directly addresses that challenge by generating our own clean electricity, storing it for use during peak times, and significantly reducing reliance on the grid. This allows us to open the club to more activity as well as offer more comfortable and warmer space.
Project Aims:
Generate approximately 17,000kWh of renewable electricity each year, meeting 80% of our current usage;
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 3,800 kgCOe annually — equivalent to planting 175 trees every year;
Cut our annual running costs by approximately £4,500, allowing us to reinvest these savings directly into community football programmes and facilities;
Reduce the environmental impact of our operations, with a targeted 60% cut in carbon emissions;
Improve energy resilience, protecting against price volatility and ensuring the building can remain open during grid outages;
Increase access and use by community groups through lower operational costs;
Raise awareness of renewable energy and climate action through visibility of the installation and associated education initiatives. We anticipate hosting at least two additional community groups weekly, restarting conversations with the NHS about local health outreach clinics, and doubling the number of free charity events provided.