A renewable energy company with a “sell to give” business model is doubling down on its efforts to support registered charities on the island.

Sunny Side Solar has launched a programme that sees the company match an individual or corporate donation to a charity for the purpose of installing solar panels.

Sunny Side will match donations up to half the value of a system.

The initiative replaces the company’s original commitment to wholly donate solar panel systems to charities.

Nick Hutchings, co-founder of Sunny Side with Claire Smith, said the revised approach means that the company can support more charities.

He added: “We thought just recently that if we moved from a 100 per cent gift to a 50 per cent matching gift we could increase the amount of solar that charities can have access to.

“It’s just a way of trying to ramp up the amount of solar that we can give away.”

Previous installations include systems at the Women’s Transformational Living Centre, the feeding programme at Christ Church in Warwick, the Bermuda Zoological Society and Meals on Wheels.

The latter organisation reported that a 2021 installation resulted in immediate savings as in one winter month in 2022 its electricity bill was reduced by almost 40 per cent compared with the same period in the previous year.

Sunny Side said the 40-panel array at Meals on Wheels will save the organisation $170,000 and offset 150 tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the 25-year life of the system.

Pointing to the savings provided by solar panels, Mr Hutchings said: “For donors, it’s like providing an endowment because it keeps paying. It’s a very good investment.”

Sunny Side currently has funds in hand to “solarise” two charities.

The organisation also sells solar systems to “regular” customers, both on a turnkey basis including installation, or by providing as much support as DIY customers require.

Mr Hutchings said: “We essentially sell solar to give solar away. The company is a non-profit so there are no owners, there are no shareholders, so all of the profit that the company makes we use to donate solar to charities.”

Sunny Side said donors gain the additional benefit of receiving carbon offsets to lower their climate footprint. This, added to the social benefit, provides enhanced value to corporate donors’ ESG (environmental, social and governance) programmes.