Tag Archives: Community Initiatives

Brixton Energy Solar 3 is go!

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Admin
June 2013: Brixton Energy have just sent out an update (copied below) on the launch of their third community-led photovoltaic development, which was attended by Secretary of State for Energy Ed Davey, and Energy Minister Greg Barker (in photo below).
The launch of Brixton Energy Solar
“After months of hard work by the team at Repowering London and Brixton Energy’s committed volunteers, we are delighted to announce the launch of Brixton Energy Solar 3. The solar panels for Brixton Energy Solar 3 will be installed on four buildings on Brixton Hill within the Roupell Park Estate: Hyperion House, Fairview House, Warnham House and the Community Office.

How is Brixton Energy Solar 3 even better?

  • We have involved young people from the estate with paid work experience from the very beginning. They have been doing everything from knocking on doors carrying out surveys, to learning about energy efficiency and how to make solar panels. With your support, they will now be installing solar panels on their estate!
  • The returns on this project are even higher! We project an annual return of around 4% (in addition to the the 50% tax relief received via SEIS) for Brixton Energy Solar 3, as we will be using more energy onsite. That’s great for Roupell Park too, as more of the buildings will now be powered by clean renewable energy. We will also be generating more money for our unique Community Energy Efficiency Fund.
  • More clean electricity! The combined array for Brixton Energy Solar 3 will have 52.5kW installed capacity and is expected to save approximately 22 tonnes of CO2 every year.
  • Even more people can now get involved and take ownership of renewable energy. To support this, we have reduced the minimum investment to £50 for residents of the Roupell Park estate.
  • It’s now even easier and quickier to purchase your shares! Just go to http://www.repowering.org.uk/projects/roupell-park, fill out your details and you’re done.

So please download the share offer, buy shares in Brixton Energy Solar 3 today and spread the word by forwarding this email to your friends!”

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Ministers Present on Community Energy

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Admin

June 2013: See video presentations made by London MP (Kingston & Surbiton) and Secretary of State for Energy Ed Davey and Energy Minister Greg Barker on the new Community Energy Call for Evidence, launched at the Repowering London site in Brixton.

Further information on future projects by Repowering London here.

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Brixton launch of Government Community Energy Work

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Admin

6 June 2013: Ed Davey MP, Secretary of State at DECC, will be launching his department’s Community Energy ‘call for evidence’ at the Brixton Energy project on the Loughborough Estate later today (see an earlier post here for details on this ‘call for evidence’).  Mr Davey  writes in today’s Guardian that:

“Today I will be visiting the Repowering South London project in Brixton. Several hundred square metres of solar panels have been installed on six blocks in the Loughborough Estate and the project is providing work placement opportunities for local young and unemployed people from the estate.
These examples are fantastic and extremely encouraging. I want to see community energy projects rolled out across the country, but we need a strategy to help unlock the potential. And that strategy has to be informed by the best available evidence.”

Further information on the Government’s work on Community Energy to date can be seen on their micro-site here. Minutes of the Community Energy Contact Group meetings can be viewed here. An excellent piece in last week’s issue of Utility Week – here – provides a great overview of many of the key issues.

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Is the Community Energy Strategy being kicked into the ‘long grass”?

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Admin

February 2013: In a response given yesterday to a Parliamentary Question asking what the Government’s “policy is on support for localised renewable energy projects”, Energy Minister Greg Barker replied: “DECC is currently scoping a Community Energy Strategy and will publish a call for evidence in the spring.”

DECC Ministers have previously stated that a consultation paper for the Community Energy Strategy would be issued in March 2013 – see transcript of Hansard here with the Secretary of State saying:

“Mr Davey: Yes. We would then hope to finalise that community energy strategy before the summer recess, or it might end up going into the autumn.“

The October 2012 minutes of the Government’s advisory board for the strategy, the Community Energy Contact Group (CECG), reflect a similar provisional timeline for the release of the Community Energy Strategy:

  • Informal consultation through the CECG (Mar-Apr)
  • (tbc) Formal consultation – Apr–Jul
  • (tbc) Publish Strategy – Aug-Sep

Similar time tabling references to the Strategy are also made in the Government’s recent Energy Efficiency Strategy (we’ll however leave to one side Greg Barker rather optimistic tweet in June 2012 that the strategy would be released “within months” which must have left DECC officials somewhat baffled at the time!).

So does it make any difference that DECC are now pointing to a ‘call for evidence’ being released in Spring 2013 rather than an actual draft consultation? Worryingly, it does bring to mind the process Government have been navigating the past five years in issuing policies to drive forward a heat strategy for the UK. A heat ‘call for evidence’ was first issued in 2008 by DECC’s predecessor department, BERR. This was followed by a consultation in 2009 for a Heat and Energy Saving Strategy which was then followed by a further Heat Consultation Strategy consultation in March 2012. We are now awaiting actual ‘policy proposals’ which are due to be released by DECC in March 2013.

Maybe the Community Energy Strategy will be pushed by Ministers more than heat policy has been to date. However – a move to the publication of a  ‘call for evidence’ rather than a draft consultation strategy must surely indicate that the original timelines set out to publish policies to support community-led energy projects are now behind schedule.

There are also indications in the CECG minutes that the Group are not entirely happy with progress to date. At the October 2012 meeting members “raised lack of progress on research requirements discussed at previous meeting as an outstanding issue” and that with regard to a proposed research paper – “members do not feel the current version reflects the previous meetings discussions and outcomes.” The Group’s previous meeting’s minutes also indicate that DECC resourcing for the initiative is limited (para 9) and that the work for the Community Energy Strategy appears to sit within DECC’s ‘Communication Directorate’, with the minutes stating that:

“The focus of the strategy should be community engagement, ideally setting out best practice and a model which all DECC community activity would follow… The Strategy could not seek to modify policies, except in respect to approaches to community partnership and community support. It may however recommend policy areas for further review.” [paras 10/11]

So – if the eventual strategy comes out a little late and doesn’t actually modify any policies at all, but simply sets out some advice and case studies on a website for communities to hopefully follow – does this in fact matter? Putting to one side that DECC do already have a mind-boggling (and not in a good way…) ‘Community Energy Online‘ website, with the Energy Bill current proposals making it more complex for the development of smaller scale generation schemes, it’s yet to be proved that DECC have the same level of ambition for the UK to achieve what has been seen in Germany which has now “more than 80,000 German citizens come together in some 600 energy cooperatives”. Only time will tell…

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Community Energy Strategy Update

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Admin

February 2013: Energy and Climate Secretary of State Ed Davey said during DECC questions in the House of Commons earlier this week that the Government  “will introduce later this year the most ambitious community energy strategy this country has ever seen, and we will consult on it before we finalise it…We have a rather more ambitious approach to community energy than the previous Government ever had.” As highlighted in previous posts (here and here), a Community Energy Contact Group has been formed to advise DECC on the drafting of the strategy- details of the CECG can be viewed here.

The Community Energy Coalition published a Manifesto for Community Energy late last year which sets out some very good recommendations to Government on what the strategy should include as a minimum. Read the Manifesto here. Haringey Council is amongst the Manifesto’s many supporters.

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Can green energy cooperatives help solve the UK’s energy challenge?

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Admin

February 2013: Great event took place at the Hub in Islington this week discussing the question “could green community energy cooperatives play an important part in achieving a low-carbon, energy independent future for the UK?” which included speakers from Brixton Energy, Energise Barnet, Carbon Leapfrog and Southern Solar. A helpful write-up of the article is available on the Positive News website.

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The growth in community led energy projects in Germany

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Admin

January 2013: BBC Radio 4’s environment programme, Costing the Earth, has this week looked at the energy market changes in Germany –  with the planned closure in nuclear being replaced by a  massive shift to renewables – and the significant role that community energy groups are playing in helping with this change. Further information on the programme – Berlin’s Big Gamble here. The programme is available as a podcast here.

A recent news report highlighted that there are “more than 80,000 German citizens have come together in some 600 energy cooperatives” and a 2012 report covering co-op groups energy projects in Germany ‘Citizens, communities and local economy in good company‘ states that these groups have invested over 800 million euros in renewable energy schemes.

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Brixton Energy and the Future of Community Energy Schemes

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Admin

January 2013: Labour’s Shadow Energy Minister, Luciana Berger MP, recently visited the team at Brixton Energy to see the excellent work undertaken there in developing a community-led PV project. The scheme has been getting a lot of attention and was raised during a recent House of Commons debate on the Energy Bill, where it was refrenced as the kind of community energy initiative the Bill should be supporting – something which it is sorely lacking to do so at the moment.

The issue of the Energy Bill and community energy schemes – and the forthcoming Government Community Energy Strategy – was picked up again during the committee stage oral evidence sessions last week, with the Secretary of State being quizzed by another Labour Shadow Energy Minister, Tom Greatrex:

“Q 37 Tom Greatrex:  I would like to ask the Secretary of State about community energy projects, because he has talked in the past about wanting to foster a community energy revolution. Will he explain why, contrary to the Select Committee’s report and other representations, he decided against increasing the threshold for the small-scale feed-in tariff above 5 MW?

Mr Davey: I know that there has been a lot of focusing on that. I would say first that community energy strategy is far wider, richer and deeper than simply that particular issue, although I know the Select Committee paid a lot of attention to it. Mr Barker and I will be publishing a consultation paper on a community energy strategy in March—I think that is the current working timetable. Mr Barker will correct me if I am wrong, but I think that we are working to March.

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)  indicated assent.

Mr Davey: Yes. We would then hope to finalise that community energy strategy before the summer recess, or it might end up going into the autumn. The community energy strategy will cover many more issues than the one that you have identified.

Q 38 Tom Greatrex:  This strategy will be after the Bill, though, so the opportunity to increase that threshold, if that were an appropriate thing to do, is therefore lost.

Mr Davey: The Bill is before the Committee. Of course, we keep those things under review, but let us be clear that the Bill’s major focus is not on community energy. It is about many other things, as we have been discussing. As you will be aware, community energy does not have to go into this Bill. As I have said, it goes much broader than the particular point that you are focusing on, important though that is.

Q 39 Tom Greatrex:  But the thresholds for where the small-scale tariff and the contract for difference come in are in the Bill, are they not?

Mr Davey: Let us be clear. In our discussions on that, the vast majority of community energy schemes that we are seeing are below that threshold.

Q 40 Tom Greatrex:  Because that is what the threshold is. That is why they are below it. It does not follow that they would not be—

The Chair:  Just let him answer the question.

Mr Davey: To invest in bigger schemes than that, you need quite a significant amount of money. You are talking about several more millions than most of the communities will be putting in. When you get to that size of scheme, there is a question mark about how much of a community scheme it remains. There is no science here. I cannot say absolutely that that is the right threshold. There is a legitimate debate to be had about it. I am not pretending that there is not a legitimate debate, but one can slightly over-egg the pudding and not see the overall picture of what we are trying to achieve with community energy.”

Though the Minister is right with respect to London -that we have not as yet seen community-led schemes of the MW size/millions investment – there are however such projects now going ahead elsewhere in the country which are likely to be the pathfinder schemes for other similar initiatives – including ones hopefully in the capital. An excellent scheme worth mentioning is the West Mill Solar Co-op, recently launched in Oxfordshire, which is spread over 30 acres with more than 20,000 solar panels!

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The Energy Bill misses out “opportunity to support community energy co-operatives”

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Admin

January 2013: Newly elected Labour MP for Croydon North, Steve Reed, made a welcome intervention in the December parliamentary debate on the Energy Bill correctly stating that the Bill “misses an opportunity to support community energy co-operatives”. As an example of what can be achieved by such schemes, Mr Reed gave details of the  Brixton Energy project:

“Brixton solar energy 1 was the country’s first urban energy generation co-operative and was set up by the local community in Brixton, working in co-operation with the local authority, Lambeth council…Brixton solar 1 was built on the roof of a social housing estate, Loughborough Park in Brixton. Brixton solar 2 is being built on another part of the same estate and a third scheme is planned for another estate in the area. The schemes are funded by community subscription and offer a 3% return to investors, most of whom are local. They are part-resourced by the local authority, which makes the buildings available.

“Instead of supporting such schemes, the Bill offers smaller community generators lower market prices for their power, making them less financially viable, and it fails to recognise the administration costs needed to run them. The Bill also ends the renewables obligation, which means that suppliers have no incentive to purchase from independent generators such as Brixton solar energy.

Mr Reed should be familiar with the scheme as, until his appointment to Parliament, he was the Leader of Lambeth Council. He goes on to conclude with some really good recommendations:

“The Bill should be amended to increase the fixed feed-in tariff threshold for community projects, guarantee a market for community energy schemes and set a minimum annual target for new generation capacity from community schemes. I should like to see local authorities incentivised to lower overall household carbon emissions in their area, which they could do in part by supporting projects such as Brixton solar energy.”

Further detail on these can be found in some excellent research by Cornwall Energy undertaken for Co-operatives UK and published a few months ago.

It should be noted that Scotland has had a target since 2011 of 500 MW community and locally-owned renewable energy by 2020 (see here for details).

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Government Policy on generation of electricity by local authorities

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Admin

17 December 2012: John Pugh, MP for Southport, has asked a useful parliamentary question around what the Government’s position is on promoting the generation of electricity by local authorities. Apparently it has one.

Col 534W: John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on the generation of electricity by local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker:  In 2010, we gave local authorities the power to sell electricity generated from renewable sources. It is therefore up to local authorities to generate and sell electricity if they wish and we are encouraging them to do so where this is appropriate. We have also facilitated this through ‘lite’ electricity supply licence, which would allow a local authority district heating operator to sell electricity at retail rates to consumers.

We are also supporting community ownership of localised renewable energy projects through the Feed-in-Tariffs scheme. Local projects engage neighbourhoods and communities in becoming involved with generating local heat and power e.g. Combined Heat and Power with District Heating (CHP-DH) networks in Woking, Southampton, Nottingham and Sheffield.

Local authorities also have a role in encouraging energy efficiency take up, including the Green Deal, and looking after consumer interests, for example, through the pioneer places and core cities initiatives and through supporting or running collective switching schemes.

Some points on this:

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DECC Community Energy Strategy Update

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Admin

November 2012: DECC’s recently released Energy Efficiency Strategy includes the following update on its work to develop the first ever Community Energy Strategy for the UK:

“DECC is working with stakeholder groups to develop a Community Energy Strategy that will support activity with communities across the Department. This strategy will inform how the Department works with community groups and local organisations across all aspects of buying, saving and generating energy, and make sure our community schemes are fit for purpose. The DECC Community Energy Strategy is to be developed over the coming months, and will be available for use from Summer 2013.“

DECC established a Community Energy Contact Group (CECG) earlier this year to help develop the Community Energy Strategy. Minutes of the Group’s October meeting have just been posted online by DECC – and provide some interesting detail on current discussions between the Group and DECC including – under item 5 – the CECG’s views on what are – from ‘Energy for London’s perspective – some sensible ‘must haves’ for the forthcoming strategy. The minutes can be accessed here.

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‘Community energy is on the up. But will the government hobble it?’

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Admin

29 October 2012: Good post on the Guardian’s website about the emergence of community-led energy schemes over the past year and  – worryingly – the potential negative impacts that might arise out of the Government’s forthcoming proposals for the Electricity Market Reform (EMR) in the Energy Bill on smaller scale generators. Some of these issues are picked up in a useful briefing by the Renewable Energy Association (REA) ‘ 10 actions needed to make EMR work for renewable power‘.

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