Chester Community Energy’s 2026 annual grant for energy saving projects has awarded a total of £5,000 to local community groups.

The community fund is generated from revenues received from its rooftop solar PV panels on leisure centres in West Cheshire. We are grateful to Cheshire West Voluntary Action who, once again, helped with the administration of the awards.

A panel of four members of CCEL were responsible for the selection process. The panel consisted of Julie Savory, Graham Booth, Simon Brown and Jane Alcock and each application was assessed according to an established points scoring process.

Applications were received from:

• Chester Sailing Club
• Hoole Baptist Church
• Hoole Community Development Trust
• Parochial Church Council of Holy Trinity Chester
• Winsford Town Council

The applications were for a broad range of projects at varying stages of development. The successful projects were those that best met the benefit fund criteria of being used to help their organisation and / or their beneficiaries improve energy efficiency / reduce carbon footprint or waste reduction or make use of renewable sources of energy whilst providing valuable community services. The grant was therefore divided between the following three applicants:

• Chester Sailing Club – awarded £1,500
• Hoole Baptist Church – awarded £2,940
• Hoole Community Development Trust – awarded £560

We will be posting photos of the awards as soon as they are available!