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Power Up North London
Power Up North LondonBorn out of the Transition Town movement in Kentish Town, Tufnell Park and Highgate, Power Up North London has turned a GP surgery, a church roof and a community sports centre into local power stations for Camden and Islington.
Project overview
Power Up North London (PUNL) is a community benefit society set up in 2014 by three local Transition Town groups who believed communities could drive their own transition to net zero.
Run entirely by volunteers with expertise spanning renewable energy, finance, policy and community organising, PUNL's mission is to work with local communities and businesses to lower costs, cut emissions, and build local ownership of renewable energy.
About the project
From feasibility study to solar on the roof
PUNL's model starts with the community: it identifies a renewable energy opportunity, carries out the feasibility work, and if the numbers stack up, raises the capital and delivers the whole project through to installation. An Urban Community Energy Fund grant in 2015 helped fund early feasibility work, including the project that became one of PUNL's standout case studies: 100 solar panels on the roof of Caversham GP Practice in Camden, funded by £28,000 raised from investors in under two weeks. One of the practice's own investors, Ruth Appleton, put it simply: "Every time the sun shines we get heat and hot water for our local General Practice. Wonderful!"
PUNL has gone on to deliver solar at St Anne's Church in Highgate and is currently working with Camden Council, which has committed to making the borough zero-carbon by 2030, on an 83kWp array for Talacre Community Sports Centre.
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10 live solar projects and counting
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396kWp of generation capacity installed
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271 tonnes of carbon emissions saved cumulatively
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Over £350,000 raised from local residents and businesses to fund solar panels
Beyond the panels
PUNL's work doesn't stop at generation. It has delivered a full retrofit at a local community centre — new windows, a 50kW air source heat pump and mechanical ventilation — and runs fuel poverty workshops and one-to-one energy advice for local residents, helping them understand their bills and access the discounts and support available to them.
Now working with Enfield Council and the Edmonton Community Partnership to bring solar to more schools, PUNL's grassroots, feasibility-first approach continues to prove that a handful of committed local volunteers can build a genuinely local power network.
