Tag Archives: Community Initiatives

Energise Barnet powering ahead

January 2012: Energise Barnet has recently been awarded £37,500 as part of Barnet Council’s Big Society Innovation Bank, a £600,000 fund created to help kick-start citizen- and community-led projects. Further details can be viewed here.

Nigel Farren of Energise Barnet has also been selected as the only London representative on a newly formed ‘Community Energy Contact Group’ convened by Energy Minister Greg Barker. The first meeting of the Group took place in December with Nigel joining  eight other community groups and organisations from across the UK who will help DECC understand the issues and opportunities facing communities setting up local renewable energy initiatives. Further details on Energise Barnet’s involvement in the Group can be read on the following news report.

DECC have stated they welcome feedback and suggestions on community energy initiatives as well as notable case studies  which should be sent to alison.bailey@decc.gsi.gov.uk. DECC are also seeking guidance from community groups via a short survey posted on their Community Energy Online website.

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The Hydrograph

January 2012: Community-led renewable energy scheme in Richmond, Ham Hydro, has recently published its first newsletter providing an update on their project, which involves the installation of hydro power turbines on the River Thames at Teddington Weir. Down The Hydrograph at www.hamhydro.org. Further information is available on the Ham Hydro energyshare webpage.

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Food waste could provide London with new gas supply

January 2012: An article highlighting how Creative Health Lab, a social enterprise based in North London, are working towards developing a small scale, community Anaerobic Digestion (AD) project. AD projects in the UK at present are generally large, industrial scale technologies, but Creative Health Lab want to see the technology scaled down to a more local micro- level. The project LEAP project (the Local Energy Adventure Partnership) is currently looking at two North London sites where they can begin trialling the small-scale AD technology. Read the full article here.

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Five London Community Energy projects awarded Government funding

16 January 2012: DECC today announced the first 82 local energy projects to win funding from the new £10m Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF).  Five projects in London were selected:

Congratulations all!

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Neighbourhood Plans and Renewable Energy

January 2012: An answer to a parliamentary question considering the Localism Act 2011 (which came into  being in November 2011) and its potential to support the development of renewable energy schemes. Not much is revealed…however the Act and Explanatory notes to the Act can be viewed here. Additionally a Plain English guide to the Localism Act’ produced by the Department for Communities (CLG) can be downloaded here. Friends of the Earth have also published a briefing note on ‘Planning and the Localism Act’.

Renewable Energy: 10 Jan 2012 : Column 60W

Roberta Blackman-Woods (MP for the City of Durham) : To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment his Department has made of the likely impact upon neighbourhood plans of the Government’s commitment to ensure that renewable sources will generate 15 per cent. of the UK’s energy by 2020.

Greg Clark (Minister for Decentralisation and Cities, CLG): The Localism Act gives communities new powers to plan for the future of their areas through neighbourhood planning. These are powerful new opportunities for communities to shape the development of their local areas.

It is for communities to decide whether they wish to use neighbourhood development plans or orders to deliver energy from renewable sources, provided the plans or orders meet the basic conditions set out in the Localism Act.

Our proposals strike the right balance by ensuring that neighbourhood planning proposals are in general conformity with strategic planning policies, while giving communities the flexibility to determine those issues that are rightly dealt with at community level.

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Rough Guide to Community Energy

January 2012: The Rough Guide to Community Energy is free to download and – as the blurb goes – is “Packed full of practical advice and inspiring case studies, it covers:

  • Local energy groups – how to set one up and keep its momentum going
  • Types of project including solar, wind, hydro, biomass, CHP and energy efficiency
  • Getting a project off the ground, from fundraising and planning to construction
  • Real-world advice from successful groups all over the UK”

It does appear to be very much a ‘rough’ guide, leaving out lots of the complexities that are unfortunately all too prevalent in the UK – especially in relation to community based schemes – but a helpful addition none the less.

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‘Why I’m lending my voice to community renewable schemes’

December 2011: Guardian posted article by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall about the energyshare initiative, created to help support and promote community-led sustainable energy projects. Energyshare – together with funding from British Gas – have just finalised (yesterday) their current competition, allowing supporters to  vote for their favourite community energy project, with winners being awarded up to £100,000 funding. Four projects have been selected – none unfortunately in London – but all worth reading about! Further information here.

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Pitch Pledge for Energise Barnet!

6 October 2011: A London community energy project has been selected to put forward its proposals to an innovative new fund raising experiment for low carbon schemes. Launched by carbon campaign 10:10, Pitch Pledge Party is aimed to link 10:10 participants with donors looking to support practical carbon-cutting ideas.

Out of the many projects submitted to 10:10, Energise Barnet is one of only three schemes which will be pitching at Party, which is to be held at The Guardian’s offices on Monday 10 October. Further details of the pitch made by Energise Barnet can be found here – where you can also vote to support the project!

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Walking Tour of Renewable Energy Generation in Dalston

September 2011: Arcola Energy’s Green Sunday event is to host a walking tour of renewable energy generation in Dalston. The Dalston Renewable Energy Walk will:

“meet at Arcola Theatre at 1.30pm for a walk around several inspiring projects in the neighbourhood. Our tour starts with the solar panels at the Dalston Roof Park, where Sam Aldenton from The Bootstrap Company will explain how they went about creating one of the largest solar roofs in the UK. From there, we move on to quietrevolution’s wind turbine installation at the Kinetica building on Ramsgate Street to hear from the company’s Stephen Crosher on how turbines can be installed on new and existing buildings. After a stop at the Dalston Square Energy Centre to check out their biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) system, we’ll head back to the Arcola around 4.15pm for a discussion of  the different systems we have seen and our plans for greening the theatre’s systems.”

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Low Carbon Social Enterprises

August 2011: DECC have just published a study undertaken through the Low Carbon Community Challenge (LCCC) communities programme which evaluates the support given to the 22 community schemes (including the Haringey and Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone) on establishing social enterprise vehicles for their projects.‘ Download  An independent evaluation report examining the Social Enterprise support and guidance needs of Low Carbon Community Challenge projects

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Low Carbon Communities Challenge – interim learning

17 August 2011: DECC have just published a report setting out the interim learning from the Low Carbon Communities Challenge (LCCC), a two year programme involving 22 community energy projects, which includes the ‘Haringey and Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone‘. The LCCC is looking to test different models of community-scale delivery, from projects which are led by community groups through to other projects which involve existing agencies and this report provides some of the learning to date in progressing the various schemes. The report details what worked and what didn’t work when progressing the various projects.

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Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone

May 2011: A mid-project report of the Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone was produced to establish some of the points learnt and the carbon savings achieved whilst roughly half way through the project.

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