Tomorrow evening sees RegenSW launch the Climate Variety Show in Sidmouth:
Futures Forum: Climate Week in Sidmouth: The Climate Variety Show >>> Friday 11th March
RegenSW has been very supportive of Sidmouth's community energy project:
Futures Forum: SidEnergy latest: the impact of energy policy changes
However, community projects are having a hard time currently, as this latest bulletin from SidEnergy demonstrates:
Greetings from the SidEnergy Team
By now you should be fully aware of the
changes made to the renewable
energy market by the current government as
outlined in our Newsletter
No14. The changes to the “Feed In Tariff” (FIT)
and the scrapping of
the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) has hit
SidEnergy and other
community energy groups hard; it has also had a
devastating impact on
the Solar PV market in the south west.
What
happens next? Currently the directors of SidEnergy are in
consultation with
a number of organisations to discuss and clarify our
various options. Once
our accounts have been fully audited we will
then call an AGM, at which we
will announce our decision. Paid-up
members will be urged to attend and
have their say. It is important to
us that we get as many opinions as
possible.
RegenSW a renewable energy umbrella organisation continues to
lobby
the government on behalf of all community energy groups and a copy
of
their recent email is reproduced below.
The directors would like
to thank you all for your support and we look
forward to continuing to work
with you in the future.
The SidEnergy Team
-0o-0o-0o-0o-0o-
Email from RegenSW:
Dear SidEnergy
On
Wednesday Ian from TRESOC, Francis from South Brent Community
Energy
Society (SBCES) and I attended a meeting at Westminster with
Andrea
Leadsom, Fiona Booth, head of community energy at DECC, and
Sarah
Wollaston. We set out the amazing achievements and impacts of
community
energy so far and the challenges now facing the sector in
light of recent
policy changes.
We asked for:
* innovation funding for new business
models (some of the £250million
allocated) to be directed to community
energy
* SITR for community energy – Andrea said, “I wasn’t aware there was
an expectation for SITR”, which was surprising given the work
Community
Energy England (CEE) has been doing on this. She pointed out
the EIS tax
relief is for high risk investments and was removed for
community energy
groups because the mechanism was being abused by
developers. We explained
that SITR was for social investments and
asked if DECC could work on making
this available to community energy
groups
* a more stable policy
environment – Andrea explained that from the
government’s perspective our
8GW solar targets have been met and huge
subsidies are being paid to
private companies and community energy
groups, at the expense of bill
payers, her key focus is keeping energy
bills down
* her public
commitment and support for community energy – Andrea said
she has stated
her commitment to community energy on numerous
occasions but we’d still
like to see some public commitment
* we invited Andrea to visit us in the SW
to see how community energy
has additional benefits, like addressing fuel
poverty.
**
A focus on fuel poverty and consumer
bills
------------------------------------------------------------
Andrea
spent a lot of time talking about the need for community energy
to address
fuel poverty, so this is clearly going to be a big focus
for her and DECC.
We explained that without a viable business model
and income to a community
energy organisation, we can’t pay for fuel
poverty initiatives and grants
and short term interventions are not
sustainable. Andrea asked for more
evidence to demonstrate how
community energy helps address fuel
poverty.
Her other big focus was protecting bill payers. We explained
the
community energy sector’s aspiration to generate local energy and help
people save money on bills, and that communities are in a unique
position, as we can generate and shift demand. However, for local
supply
(http://regensw.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=087cfaf09896aa1f0e6c03ffd&id=060655750c&e=90e068bab7)
to work, the regulatory framework and technicalities need innovative
pilot
projects if we are to enable communities to benefit from the
distribution and
supply margins.
** Meet your MP - tell them your
story
------------------------------------------------------------
The
government doesn’t appear to be aware of the impacts and wider
social
benefits of community energy. They seem to think it’s about middle
class people getting a nice return on their investments,
paid for by
'hardworking families'. Ian and Francis both highlighted
how their projects
are making a difference to everyone. With TRESOC’s
panels on social housing
and SBCES reinvestment in PV on community
buildings enabling massive
savings for community assets, making them
more likely to stay open. We all
need to share our stories with our
own MP’s to help this government see
that community energy is a
movement delivering huge benefits to our
society.
Have a look at our lobbying pack
(http://regensw.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=087cfaf09896aa1f0e6c03ffd&id=27e5b5d522&e=90e068bab7)
if you haven’t met your MP and don’t know where to start.
http://regensw.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=087cfaf09896aa1f0e6c03ffd&id=1d86944ae1&e=90e068bab7
We
are having an open policy making session with Fiona Booth, head of
community energy at DECC, and Emma Bridge from CEE, at Smart Energy
Marketplace
(http://regensw.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=087cfaf09896aa1f0e6c03ffd&id=42d96885f0&e=90e068bab7)
on the 17 March, so we very much hope you will join us to have your
say.
We want to get as many community groups along to the event and
we have
specific community discounts available. We are also offering a
special
event partnership to allow communities to come along and exhibit,
in
exchange for promoting the event. If interested please contact
Charlotte: cwallis@regensw.co.uk (mailto:cwallis@regensw.co.uk)
.
Please get in touch if you have any questions.
Kind
regards,
Jodie Giles
Senior project manager
‘Delivering sustainable
energy’
Regen SW
New Regen report on future energy scenarios at local level | Regen SW
Supporting Communities
South West 'leading the smart energy revolution' | Plymouth Herald
.
.
.
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