Tribute to Anthony Woolhouse, founder of West Solent Solar Co-operative
Anthony Woolhouse, founder of West Solent Solar Co-operative, passed away last week on Tuesday 12th August. Energy4All send our best wishes to his family as we reflect on the pioneering work he has contributed to the UK's community energy sector.
Anthony founded West Solent Solar Co-op along with Cathy Cook and Jonathan Blease back in 2013. Its first and principal project was to construct a 2.4 MW solar farm near Lymington in Hampshire. This was one of the earliest solar farms in the UK to be wholly community owned. Anthony served as Chair of the co-op from 2013 to 2021, overseeing the project's launch, many years of clean energy generation, and a flourishing of plant life in the 12-acre site (which had been a former gravel pit and then landfill area).
Anthony steered the co-op through what was a fairly turbulent decade for community energy, and oversaw the awarding of grants totalling several thousand pounds each year from the co-op’s community fund to local organisations in the New Forest and surrounding area for a variety of sustainability projects.
On setting up West Solent Solar, Anthony said "hopefully this project will outlast us. I have grandchildren and I hope that they inherit what we have created here. I hope the children of other people who joined the co-op will inherit what we have created. It's for future generations that we are doing this".
