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COMMUNITY
ENERGY LINKS
This page contains links to the ESRC and
Sustainable
Technologies Programme.
The page also
contains links to UK Government renewable energy programmes
and non-Government renewable energy programmes/networks/schemes
that were in place during the project 2005-6.
[note the links may become defunct
over time]
The Community Energy Initiatives UK Projects Database includes
projects funded or supported by those programmes/networks
which are community orientated. Click on the programme name
to go to the programme web sites.
CEI
PROJECT FUNDING:
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The
Sustainable Technologies Programme is a major research
initiative by the UK Economic and Social Research Council.
It aims to fund innovative social and economic research
into the shaping, development and use of more sustainable
technologies. The Programme is an integral part of the
UK Sustainable
Technologies Initiative. |
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The
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the
UK's leading research funding and training agency addressing
economic and social concerns. They aim to provide high
quality research on issues of importance to business,
the public sector and government. The issues considered
include economic competitiveness, the effectiveness of
public services and policy, and quality of life. |
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COMMUNITY-ORIENTATED
ENERGY GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMES:
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Clear
Skies, funded by the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) and managed by BRE, aims to give householders and
communities a chance to install renewable energy systems
by providing grants and access to sources of advice. Householders
can obtain grants between £400 to £5000 whilst
not-for-profit community organisations can receive up
to £100,000 for grants.
Grants
are given to the following renewable energy installations:
- Solar
thermal
- Wind turbines
- Micro/small
scale hydro turbines
- Ground
source heat pumps
- Room heaters/stoves
with automated wood pellet feed
- Wood fueled
boiler systems
Clear Skies
supports projects in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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The
CRI, started in 2002, provides advice and training
for the development of community-based renewable energy
projects. Local Support Teams have been set up in
10 different areas of England to help localities devise
their own ideas and developments for renewable energy.
These partnerships involve local councils, energy
experts, government bodies, and other specialists.
They provide free advice and training on the following:
CRI
is funded by the DTI and has a budget of £1.6
million. |
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SCHRI
is a one-stop shop offering grants, advice and project
support to assist the development of new community and
household renewable schemes in Scotland.
SCHRI
was started in 2002. It
is funded by the Scottish Executive and managed jointly
by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and Highlands and Islands
Enterprise (HIE). SCHRI initially had £1 million
over 3 years. A £6.6 million extension to the
Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative
(SCHRI) has been provided for a further 3 years.
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| Highlands
and Islands Community Energy Company |
The
CEC was developed by HIE (Highlands and Islands Enterprise)
to meet the demand for the establishment of community
owned small to medium scale wind farms and other forms
of renewable energy generation. The main function of the
CEC is to provide advice and financial assistance to community
groups to help them generate and sell energy. The CEC
will provide financial assistance for development costs
of community owned schemes, including the costs of establishing
an appropriate community group, feasibility work and environmental
assessments necessary for a planning application. It will
also assist with the capital costs of a project. This
assistance is most likely to take the form of a shareholding
that would be bought out after a number of years by the
community group using revenues from the established project.
As a result the project will become wholly community owned
and the CEC will be able to re-invest the capital in further
community projects.
The CEC will merge with HIE's community energy unit (CEU)
building on the success of the CEU and complementing the
Scottish Executive funded Scottish Community and Household
Renewables Initiative. At present, the SCHRI scheme is
delivered in the Highlands and Islands by the Community
Energy Unit (CEU) at Highlands and Islands Enterprise. |
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The
DTI launched its four-year Major Photovoltaics Demonstration
programme in 2002, offering:
- grants
for small PV installations between 0.5kWp and 5kWp:offered
to householders, SMEs, public bodies, voluntary, charity
and community groups
- grants
for medium to large scale PV installations between
5kWp and 100kWp: offered to housing developers, housing
associations, businesses, public bodies, energy service
companies, voluntary/charity and community groups.
Grants
of up to 50% of eligible costs. |
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Community
Energy, started in 2001, provides grants from a £50
million fund to support community heating schemes in
the public sector across the UK. It has awarded £42m
in capital and development funding to date. The programme
has awarded capital grants to more than 50 community
heating schemes around the UK. Community Energy will
fund up to 40% of project costs.
Community
Energy is managed by EST and the Carbon Trust. EST is
funded primarily by DTI and Defra. The HM Treasury has
awarded the programme a spend extension to March 2007 |
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The
Innovation Programme covers the whole of the UK until
March 2005, and provides support for local authorities
and housing associations along with their project partners
to promote and implement innovative approaches to reducing
carbon emissions in their local areas.
The
programme is also open to organisations that have an
interest or involvement in reducing carbon emissions
primarily from the housing (domestic) sector (local
authorities, housing associations, energy agencies,
consultants/specialists, energy suppliers, community/
charitable organisations etc).
Each
application must have at least one local authority partner
or housing association who is active in the project.
Support is available for up to 50% of an implementation
project and 70% for a feasibility study. |
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COMMUNITY-ORIENTATED
ENERGY NETWORKS/PROGRAMMES:
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Baywind
Energy Co-operative Ltd is an Industrial & Provident
Society and was formed in 1996 on the lines of co-operative
models successfully pioneered in Scandinavia. Baywind
Energy Co-op launches share offers to enable communities
to invest in local wind turbines. It currently has 1300
shareholders. |
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Energy4All
was formed by the Baywind Energy Co-operative in 2002
and started trading in January 2003 in order to extend
the co-operative ownership model to other areas of the
UK. Energy4All is based in Baywind's office in Barrow
in Furness with development staff working throughout the
UK, utilising key partnerships.
Energy4All offers a support service for the development
of community owned renewable energy schemes and offers
the following principal services:
- Initial
project viability assessment.
- Project
development including securing planning consent.
- Establishment
of local co-operatives or similar structures to take
ownership of projects by raising equity capital through
share issues, supported by bank facilities where appropriate.
- Site monitoring
and management services once a project is established.
- Administrative,
financial and other services to support the local
co-operatives.
- Community
consultation and facilitation.
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Solar
Clubs are designed to help anyone wanting to install their
own solar water heating by giving information, guidance
through the steps involved and offering technical help.
Members are given discounts on equipment and trained to
install the systems themselves.
Following
a pilot coordinated by Environ and the Centre for Sustainable
Energy in 1998 and initially funded by the Environmental
Action Fund and the Mark Leonard Trust (£14,000
for 2 years), a national network of solar clubs subsequently
emerged and with the long term goal of enabling it to
support householders throughout the UK. However, many
of the solar clubs are no longer active due to substantial
grants provided by the Clear Skies and PV Grants Programme.
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Community
Power was started in 2003 and is a renewable energy business
which aims to help communities and local authorities develop
small-scale wind farms in partnership with Powergen. The
Community Power Team (operating within Powergen Renewables)
offer expertise and investment necessary to develop a
project with a regular income to invest in the local community. |
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Ecodyfi has established a number of small community-based
water, wind, solar and wood-fuel schemes. The scheme
is based in the Dyfi Valley, near Machynlleth, mid Wales
and is a collaboration of several organisations. Through
an EC-funded project in 1998-2001 Ecodyfi brought around
£300,000 into the local economy and raised awareness
of energy issues.
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Awel
Aman Tawe is a community energy project in the Upper Swansea
and Amman Valleys. Awel Aman Tawe is managed by a Steering
Group which consists of local volunteers and project partners.
AAT's overall project goals are to contribute to the regeneration
of the Upper Amman/Swansea Valley areas through the development
and implementation of a Community Energy Scheme and support
and promote the development of sustainable community energy
schemes in the UK. |
| Energy21
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Energy
21 is the hub of a national network of grassroots renewable
energy groups. Energy 21 Trust is a registered educational
charity (number 1082482) who unites local actions and
groups that are driving change toward the use of renewable
energy at a local and community level. Energy 21 is working
toward the development of diverse renewable energy systems
from sun, wind, water and crops. |
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COMMUNITY-ORIENTATED
AWARDS SCHEMES:
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Awards
to sustainable energy projects. The UK awards aim to demonstrate
the value that small-scale sustainable energy projects
can bring to a community within an industrialised country.
In 2004, 5 awards of £30,000 were offered; four
to developing countries and one in the UK. |
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Grants
to charities and community groups. Funding has been given
to energy related community projects. As of August 2004,
£2.4 billion has been given to 54,000 charities
and community groups. |
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OTHER
RENEWABLE ENERGY SCHEMES:
Good
Energy Home Generation Scheme
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Home
Generation has been devised by Good Energy to help promote
the use of micro-renewable power. The scheme pays small
renewable generators a price for every unit they generate,
including those that they use on site. |
| Geotrupes
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Using
its suite of contracts, Geotrupes Energy is focussed on
supporting renewables developments by:
- providing
long-term power purchase agreements backed by a major
credit-rated UK utility
- assisting
with the securing of financial support for each stage
of the development
process
- arranging
access to technical services.
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Forestry
Commission Wood Energy Business Scheme
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The
Wood Energy Business Scheme (WEBS) is a new support programme
for businesses in the Objective 1 areas of West Wales
and the Valleys, and the Objective 2 area of Powys. It
has been established by Forestry Commission Wales on behalf
of the Welsh Assembly Government, with European funding
through both Objective 1 and 2 mechanisms. WEBS provides
appropriate projects with grant support to facilitate
the installation and operation of woodfuel powered heating
and power generation plant, and equipment for initial
the processing of roundwood into chip and pellet form.
The scheme provides grants towards the initial capital
cost of relevant plant and equipment, typically boiler
systems, drying facilities, and wood-chipping/pelleting
machinery, to businesses able to provide a detailed business
case for a wood fuelled system of between 40kw and 2Mw
capacity. This will typically be small to medium public
buildings, schools, hospitals, leisure centres etc. It
also supports District Heating or Combined Heat and Power
installations which supply heat to a number of buildings,
and power to the National Grid. The percentage grant available
is as high as 50%. |
DEFRA
Bio-energy Infrastructure Scheme
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The
scheme provides grants to farmers, foresters and businesses
to help develop the supply chain required to harvest,
store, process and supply energy crops and woodfuel to
energy end-users.
A total of £3.5m is available UK-wide. There is
a maximum grant ceiling of £200,000 per producer
group or business. Maximum percentage grants are: |
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