Ironically for a yogi, Will Cottrell is not someone who can sit still. Once an adventure tour leader exploring the enigmatic wonders of the Middle East, then founder of Yoga Travel holiday company, he is now setting his sights on much greener horizons.

Will’s latest venture, the Brighton Energy Co-op, proposes to see a 700-square metre solar array situated somewhere in the city, although the exact location is currently firmly under wraps.

The panels will generate between 85-100KW of electricity, enough to power between 40 and 50 homes, and will cost £350,000 to install.

The money comes from the community, interested parties willing to stump up some cash and who want to get involved in the fast evolving renewable energy industry. In exchange, shareholders are members of a co-operative and have a democratic say and vote as to how the company is run and where the profits go.

By taking advantage of the newly-created feed-in tariff, whereby people generating electricity through renewable technologies can get paid for putting energy back into the grid, Will reckons the panels can earn up to £1.65m every year. For investors, that represents a 6 to 7% return on their investment.

He says: “We’ve only been public for three weeks but we’ve had a lot of expressions of interest, about £30,000 worth.”

Is he worried about being taken seriously? “Not really. Last night I was talking to a potential investor who comes from one of the richest areas of town. Just because it’s a community-led group doesn’t mean it’s not going to be heavyweight. The biggest wind co-op in the country raised £4.5 million last year. Co-ops UK, which owns the Co-operative shops, has £7bn in cash. These are major institutions.”

There is also no worry on his part about using solar power in grey and drizzly England. Solar PV doesn’t need direct sunlight to work, so even in the depths of winter when the Met Office says we average just one to two hours of sun a day, the panels will still work. Our long summer days mean at this time of year we are blessed with between five and seven hours of sunlight, making for an electricity generation frenzy. And, of course, this isn’t a project designed to provide all the electricity all the time, simply to make up one part of a diverse mix.

Backing up Will’s idea is a sturdy crew, including Howard Johns, founder of solar power specialists Southern Solar, Queen’s Park councillor Paul Steedman and Patrick Alcorn, member of Transition Brighton And Hove energy group and, in his day job, employee at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The energy co-op’s first meeting attracted around 70 people, although Will says it was standing room only and some people were turned away.

He says: “In Copenhagen I saw the political process turn out nothing. So I thought, ‘It’s really down to us now’.

I started thinking about renewables and built a wind turbine in Hollingdean, but wind isn’t really suitable for cities. This is only a medium-sized solar installation. We’re trying to get a model in place and once we’ve done it once, once we’ve built credibility, we can do more. This is just the first step.”

* Find out more at www.brightonenergy.org.uk