After raising 113,000 pounds , partly through crowd-funding publicised by sleeping on their roof for three cold, winter weeks, artist couple Dan Edelstyn and Hilary Powell have arranged for solar panels to be installed on dozens of houses on their street.
That makes the project particularly valuable for its residents, many of whom live in Victorian-era housing that can be poorly insulated and use more energy. Households powered by solar panel-derived electricity draw less power from the national grid, cutting energy bills, and they can also sell any excess energy back.
"Communities are kind of almost forcing the hand of grids ... This is people coming together and saying we want power in this way."said last month it was launching a policy review to speed up the connection of low-carbon energy schemes to the electricity transmission grid.