New Community Energy Initiative
Further to the event described below, NailsworthCAN is holding a Community Energy Call To Action on 16th April , 7.30-9.30pm at the Arkell Centre. See Upcoming events on Welcome page for more details. The article below appeared in April’s edition of Nailsworth News and also in the monthly NailsworthCAN Newsletter to supporters. If you are not already signed up to receive our newsletter, go the bottom of any page on this website and click on Join Now; no fee is required, we only ask you to tell us which topics are of most interest to you and whether you are interest in providing practice support on events/ projects.
Stroud Area Community Energy Network (SACEN) held a packed meeting at the Mortimer Room in Nailsworth on 13th March to discuss practical ways to promote community owned energy. The meeting was introduced by Jess Farr, Coordinator for Transition Stroud, and SACEN Chair Simon Opher.
There were short presentations on various projects and how to deal with hurdles and practical challenges. Peter Boait (Chair of GCEC, Gloucestershire Community Energy Co-op) gave an overview of two local GCEC projects: the Solar PV (Photovoltaic) project at Minchinhampton Primary School and another at the Community Hub in Minchinhampton, which also included an Air-Source Heat Pump. GCEC enables community funded projects to deliver cheap electricity to schools, civic centres and other community settings, and ensures everyone has a chance to invest.
Rednock School in Dursley has a Solar PV project in part funded by a grant from National Grid. Faithful Chanda (Community Energy at NGED, National Grid Electricity Distribution) explained how schools can benefit from grants, and help integrate energy literacy and biodiversity into the curriculum.
There is no shortage of roof space which could be used to get things underway with solar, which is where SACEN is focussing its initial efforts. Heating and transport in Nailsworth are responsible for 60% of our carbon emissions. By adopting electrified alternatives to boilers and petrol/diesel cars and buses, we could then use locally generated electricity in Heat Pumps and Electric Vehicles. These could be powered by 17.5 Megawatts (MW) of solar and 20 MW of wind locally installed capacity, to provide year round power.
As Peter Boait said, community generated electricity would be cheap, and puts less strain on the national grid as it is used in situ.
Several groups in our area are here to help. SACEN aims to support small scale local generation of PV and wind, and NailsworthCAN are supporting this initiative.
The meeting heard about a ‘community engagement toolkit’ from CSE (Centre for Sustainable Energy in Bristol) that will enable community groups to learn about what’s possible, and debate options. It will begin to make genuinely community-based decisions about the way forward. Please contact us if you are interested in becoming involved in discussions on this, in whatever community setting you have in mind.
Don’t forget to go to NailsworthCAN’s website to learn about how we are engaged in community energy and other topics. A blog/video of Richard Erskine’s recent talk ‘Greening Our Energy: How Soon’ can be found at www.nailsworthcan.org/blog.