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COMMUNITY ENERGY NETWORKING GROUP – next meeting
Derbyshire Dales Community Energy (DDCE) is delighted to announce that our next networking event, set up to support community energy groups in Derbyshire, is scheduled for the 21st of March 2023. The event is to be held at Cromford Mills where we will hear from Noel Lambert; the National Coordinator for Big Solar Coop. Noel will talk in more detail about the exciting new opportunity provided by the formation of a new Derbyshire community energy node and the opportunities that partnering with Big Solar Co-op will bring.
The collective ambition of the 4 community energy nodes is to install 100 MW of rooftop solar along with engaging 250 active volunteers across 25 local groups by 2030. Big Solar Co-op will also create 10 new sustainable jobs along with offering a range of ethical, accessible social investment opportunities raising £25m. They anticipate this will save over £300,000 annually on fuel bills for community buildings and social housing.
Motivated by strong aspirations to improve the efficiency of local energy systems and to support zero carbon objectives DDCE are aiming to achieve over 1MWp of installed capacity in the next year. DDCE has already identified several local sites and along with Big Solar Co-op has issued proposals, for solar panel installation, to the site owners. These sites represent 746kWp of installed capacity, and the team are continuing to work with several other sites to evaluate their suitability.
Like DDCE, Big Solar Co-op is also a cooperative: a not-for-profit, carbon-first and volunteer-led organisation. Importantly, they take the issue of sourcing ethically manufactured solar panels from organisations very seriously, and they currently use European manufacturers who use hydro-powered processes rather than carbon intensive ones.
Daniel O’Connell (Community Energy Support Officer) said:
“This is a fantastic opportunity for the growing number of community energy organisations that we are engaging with in Derbyshire. There are limited resources within groups and therefore expending time and resources on complex tasks including fundraising, technical design and procurement is not always possible to progress projects at the required pace.
Big Solar Co-op who have already raised nearly £850,000. A proportion of these funds will ramp up decarbonisation activities in Derbyshire. The knowledge, experience and agile systems Big Solar Coop have will provide effective support for the installation of solar pv on roofs in Derbyshire.”
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Cambridge leading the way in decarbonising heritage buildings !
A major breakthrough…
( A direct quote from our very own Steve Martin)Hundreds of solar panels will be installed on the roof of a Cambridge University chapel, despite objections.
Cambridge City Council approved the application to install 492 photovoltaic panels on the lead roof of the 15th Century chapel at King’s College.
”the plans would serve as a symbol for climate change”
CouncillorsHistoric England was among those against, saying the panels:
”would harm people’s appreciation of the chapel’s extraordinary architectural character”
At a planning meeting on Tuesday,
Details of which can be read here:
(https://democracy.cambridge.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=181&MId=4173),
Councillors were told by a college representative that the panels would meet the chapel’s entire energy demand. The panels would contribute a 1.4% reduction in carbon consumption across the estate, they said.The chapel’s 150-year-old lead roof would be stripped, melted down and reused over the next few months, the university said.
The plans had been recommended for refusal by city council planning officers. Their report stated the panels would “detract” from the architectural character of the roof
“important views of the chapel would be harmed”
City Council Planning officers
‘‘The benefits of the carbon reduction were considered on balance to be “not sufficient” to outweigh the “less than substantial harm” to the Grade I-listed chapel.”
However, the councillors said they believed:”the benefits of the scheme did outweigh any harm”
Read more here:
https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/solar-panels-put-kings-college-26184985
Looks like an extension of the universities plans to decarbonise. These already include :”All 33 Cambridge Colleges will be largely powered by two solar farms located within a 30-mile radius and the remaining volume will be sourced from solar generators across the UK.”
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”Turbocharging” Community Energy with Community Energy England
Some highlights from Community Energy England’s Newsletter.
We expect their full newsletter to be posted on their website in the near future but for now here’s some highlights we’d like to showcase:https://communityenergyengland.org/pages/newsletter#CEE%20Member%20Newsletter
Urge the government to ‘turbocharge’ community energy
”The Net Zero Review recommended the government “turbocharge community energy”. The Chancellor will make his Spring Statement on 15 March and there are rumours of a Green Investment Plan.
There are opportunities for the government to turbocharge community energy, with a National Community Energy Fund, reinstating Social Investment Tax Relief and other measures. But they will need prompting.”
There is a template letter and tweet, that can be used to contact relevant MP’s asking them to champion community energy:
Harness your MP :
https://communityenergyengland.org/pages/harnessing-our-mps#Sample%20MP%20email/letter
We’ve Tweeted Our MP :
There are also some excellent resources on the upcoming Onshore wind reforms:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGk5FFrxRp0
https://www.regen.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Regen-Briefing-Note-Planning-Reforms-for-Onshore-Wind-February-2023.pdf