Low Carbon Hub’s 10 Years in 10 Numbers

For over a decade, Low Carbon Hub has been at the heart of a growing partnership of people and organisations working together for a low carbon future.   

At this important milestone, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what has been achieved over these 10 years with the help of 10 numbers.  

1. Investor members

Let’s kick our list off with the wonderful people that have a large role in making our projects possible – our members. We started with 10 pioneer investors who provided us with the capital to install a solar array on the Oxford Bus Company. Now we have 1,770 investor members who have collectively invested over £10 million in the Low Carbon Hub.

1,770
Investor members

2. Investment

We are proud to be able to offer an ethical investment option that enables people to have a part in accelerating the transition to a net-zero energy system and supporting local communities across Oxfordshire.

£10,193,174
Investment into Low Carbon Hub

3. Community-owned renewables

By using the capital from our investor members, along with another £12 million raised in loans and grant funding, we now have 50 renewable generation installations across Oxfordshire. 

50
Renewable generation installations

4. Solar panels installed

In our portfolio of renewable energy installations, we have 50,793 solar panels, which laid end to end would stretch from Oxford to Cambridge.

50,793
Solar panels installed

5.Typical homes powered

These solar panels can generate enough power each year to provide the electricity for 8,847 typical homes!

8,847
typical homes powered

6.Lifetime electricity savings for hosts

Much of the electricity we generate is sold at a discount to the organisations that host our arrays on their roofs. Over the lifetime of our projects, we estimate that this will save our hosts £1,954,000 on their electricity bills – money that schools can spend on education rather than electricity.

£1,954,000
Lifetime electricity savings for hosts

7. Low Carbon Hub IPS surpluses for community benefit

The installations also generate us a sustainable income stream – an anticipated £15,500,000 in financial surpluses we can use to support further carbon cutting action on climate change over the lifetime of the projects.

£15,500,000
IPS surpluses for community benefit

8. Community benefit spend

One thing we have excelled at is using this income stream to leverage additional funding to support our programmes and innovation. For every pound of community benefit income we’ve created to date – we’ve delivered £14 pounds in community benefit activity…

x14
Community benefit spend

9. Community benefit

… this includes over 999 offers of funding, support and advice through:

  • Community grants
  • Energy audits
  • Helpdesk
999
offers of support

10. People and partnerships

Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do – from our community group members, host organisations, programme partners, and funders, to everyone who subscribes to our newsletters and helps spread the word about our work on social media – together you are creating an incredible, supportive ecosystem from which we can continue to grow over the next decade.  To each and every one of you, thank you.  

11,104
network of people we work with

Want to hear more about what we’ve done in the last decade? We have created this video to celebrate our 10 years of community energy at Low Carbon Hub.