Imagine a future where you have control over energy. You can make it, store it and sell it from your home, feeding the profits back into your local area. Actually, some people don’t have to imagine it. They’re already doing it and this model could spread, because change is coming. Climate minister Claire Perry wrote recently that the future of energy is local. Her claim is underpinned by rapid evolution in energy technologies, making them cheaper and bringing them closer to people’s homes and neighbourhoods. From rooftop and community solar to electric vehicles and heat pumps, the UK’s low carbon transition is driving change. One study estimates that 11 million households in the country could be producing or storing energy by 2030, compared to under a million today. This will be a major disruption to the way we produce and sell energy. Such a future raises two critical questions: who should benefit from the economic value of these local distributed technologies and what should the role of government policy be? Our new report Community Energy 2.0 looks at these questions and makes a case for community energy groups to be at the forefront of local ownership of the energy system, for a number of reasons.
Green Alliance 25th Feb 2019 read more »
Shares in the Assel Valley wind farm north of Girvan are about to become available to local residents interested in buying into. Assel Valley Community Renewables Society is a community benefit society formed to enable people to own a stake in the Assel Valley wind farm near Girvan, and it hopes to raise £1,000,000 through a public share offer. Assel Valley is working with established social enterprise Energy4All to increase community involvement in the wind farm and the share offer will be issued shortly.
Carrick Gazette 27th Feb 2019 read more »
