Hosted by the Durham Energy Institute and with Fiona Booth, Head of Community Energy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change providing the key note address, this seminar raised awareness of the opportunities of community energy for local authorities in the North East.
Details were also shared on the emerging North East Community Energy project, a partnership between Community Energy England, Northern Powergrid and VONNE and the role that local authorities can play to support a significant scaling up of community energy activities in the North East.
Currently the North East region has the lowest levels of community energy activity per capita in England and in 2014 Community Energy England, North Powergrid and VONNE formed a partnership to develop and deliver a large scale programme of activity under the banner of North East Community Energy (NECE) to initially run from 2015-2020.
The establishment of NECE has been designed to benefit the North East economy by providing an independent income stream to the charity and community sector, by creating jobs and work for SMEs, improving resilience and by providing locally generated green energy alongside a number of energy efficiency, fuel poverty reduction and other social benefits for local communities.
The project is in ongoing discussions with the North East LEP to deliver work against the ESIF Low Carbon theme, which could provide up to 50% of the project costs. However, at least 50% matched funding will need to be sourced. We see a crucial role for local authorities as core project partners, enablers, and potential funders/ investors.
The event covered the following topics
What is Community Energy and why is it important? - Emma Bridge, Community Energy England
Why should LAs support Community Energy and how can you and your communities benefit in terms of economic regeneration? - Stephen Hall, Leeds University
How can LAs support the funding/ investment mix for Community Energy projects? - Robert Rabinowitz, Pure Leapfrog
What are the plans for North East Community Energy project and how can you get involved? - Carol Botten VONNE and Ross Weddle, Community Energy England
Additional resources and support
Pure Leapfrog's Introduction Guide to Community Energy for Local Authorities
Please sign up to our new LinkedIn group North East Community Energy Network https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6926272&trk=anet_ug_hm where we will post useful information, notification of other events and activities and where you can post questions or discussion topics for others in the network to engage with.
VONNE