400 kWp + Battery + 24 EV Chargers, Retirement Village

Scenario

A 240-unit Audley-style retirement village with clubhouse, restaurant, swimming pool, gym, wellness suite, and 28-bed on-site care suite. Annual electricity bill £320,000 across the integrated estate. EV charging requirement identified for 60 resident, staff, and visitor parking bays. Group-level ESG reporting commitment to institutional investors with TCFD-aligned disclosure.

Operator: premium retirement village group running 12 villages across the UK. The estate was selected as the lead site in a 3-village pilot programme covering solar + battery + EV charging integration.

This case study is an illustrative composite based on representative engagement with premium retirement village operators. Specific identifying details are anonymised.

What we delivered

• Solar: 402 kWp across four main rooftops (clubhouse, restaurant, care suite, central plant)
• Battery: 200 kWh LFP in dedicated external plant room with gas-suppression fire protection
• EV charging: 24 × 22 kW chargers across resident parking (12), staff parking (8), and visitor parking (4) — with OCPP-compliant load management software
• G99 application: 280 kW export-limited connection, 16 weeks approval
• Workplace Charging Scheme grant: £8,400 received (24 sockets × £350)
• Live generation display: Three reception screens (main village reception, restaurant, wellness suite)
• Commissioning date: April 2026

Results — year 1

Metric	Year 1
Generation	380,000 kWh
Self-consumption (with battery)	73% (277,400 kWh)
Energy saving (import offset at 27p)	£74,900
SEG export income (102,600 kWh at 7p)	£7,180
Total energy cost saving	£82,080
EV charging revenue (visitor + resident)	£24,000
WCS grant (one-off)	£8,400
CO₂ avoided	87,400 kg
IRR (capital purchase)	16%
Simple payback	6 years

Whole-estate energy strategy

This install was Phase 1 of a planned whole-estate decarbonisation programme:

• Phase 1 (complete): Solar + battery + EV charging (£600k capex, paid back in 6 years)
• Phase 2 (planned 2027): Air-source heat pump replacing the gas central heating system (£800k capex, expected payback 9 years including SEG and AIA tax shield)
• Phase 3 (planned 2028–2029): Fabric upgrades (insulation, glazing, smart heating controls), further EV expansion to 60 sockets, planned ground-mount expansion on the unused south paddock

Total programme value £1.8m over 4 years. Expected programme-end position: ~80% renewable energy supply on operational footprint, full Scope 2 reduction to near-zero, Scope 1 reduction by ~70%.

Sales and marketing outcome

Premium retirement village sales depend on visible values as much as floor plan. The 2025 sales report (covering the year of install and 6 months post-commissioning) showed:

• 18% uplift in unit sales velocity vs prior year
• 26% increase in unprompted “sustainability commitment” mentions in prospect-meeting notes
• ESG investor scoring improved from B to A (independent benchmarker)
• One new pension fund LP joined the cap stack at the year-end fundraise, citing the operational decarbonisation programme as a material positive

The operator now references the installation prominently in sales literature and as a case study in investor presentations.

EV charging as revenue centre

The 24-socket EV charging installation generates revenue across three tariff structures:

• Resident charging: at-cost (28p/kWh, plus 2p service charge) for the 12 resident-dedicated sockets — revenue £14,000/year
• Visitor charging: 38p/kWh on 4 visitor sockets — revenue £6,500/year
• Staff charging: subsidised 15p/kWh on 8 staff sockets — revenue £3,500/year (workplace benefit, recovered partially through payroll)

Total EV revenue £24,000/year, plus £8,400 one-off WCS grant. With solar covering 60–80% of EV charging energy during daylight hours, the marginal cost to the operator is 4–8p/kWh — comfortable margin against the 28–38p tariff.

TCFD-aligned investor disclosure

The install supports the operator’s TCFD-aligned climate disclosures:

• Scope 1 baseline: 1,180 tCO₂e/year (gas heating dominates)
• Scope 2 baseline: 95 tCO₂e/year (purchased electricity)
• Year-1 post-install Scope 2: 26 tCO₂e/year (-73% on installed site)
• Group-level Scope 2 reduction following pilot rollout to two further sites: ~210 tCO₂e/year (~22% group Scope 2)
• TCFD scenario analysis showed positive resilience to 1.5°C and 2°C transition pathways

Operator quote

“This was Phase 1 of three. We needed the first phase to prove the math, the install protocols, and the investor reception. All three landed. The sales uplift was the surprise — 18% on unit velocity in a flat market is not what we expected from a solar install. We’re now rolling the programme to two further sites, with the data from this one as the template.”

— Group Director of Sustainability