As Autumn Leaves Fall Community Energy Rises
In this issue…
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- BEC Shortlisted for Community Energy Organisation of the Year
- What Does the Change of Government Mean to BEC?
- New Lease of Life for our Hillbrow Site
- BEC’s New 3 Year Strategy
- Could You Host a Community Solar PV Array?
- Energising Energy Education in the City
- Our Innovative EV Battery Reuse Project
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BEC was shortlisted for Large Community Energy Organisation of the Year!
This Community Energy England Award recognises one community energy organisation that has demonstrated excellence across their operations, delivery, impact, engagement, innovation, and contribution to the broader sector. Our Non-exec Director, Peter Davies, attended the ceremony in Bristol last week to represent BEC, however a very deserving Exeter Community Energy took home the award. Next year!
Image: Early BEC member and staunch community energy supporter Caroline Lucas MP – photo credit: ITV
What Does The Change of Government Mean To BEC?
The new UK government has signalled a step-change for Community Energy. GB Energy, the government’s new energy company, has a stated ambition to deliver 8GW of Community Energy generation capacity. That’s roughly twenty times the size of the sector at the moment.
Various Labour party documents mention a plan for £400m for loans to community energy finance, and Community Energy England is having ongoing discussions with the Department for Energy and Net Zero on what this might mean.
However, there is little in the way of detail as yet. Community Energy is not mentioned in the GB Energy bill, which is why we encourage you to write to MP to ask them to “Sign Wera Hobhouse MP’s cross-party amendment that will include supporting community energy in the Great British Energy Bill”. You can easily do this via the Power for People campaign page here.
BEC attended an event at the Climate Hub in Lewes on Nov 21st, where we met with representatives from GB Energy. Many community energy groups from across the South East were there to demonstrate how important our sector is for helping the UK meet its climate targets, especially in engaging local communities and showcasing the tangible benefits of decarbonisation.
Image: Dr. Nick Harvey, CEO of South Downs Health and Care & Duncan Kerr, CEO Wave Active
New Lease of Life for Our Hillbrow Site
We recently had a first – one of our host sites was sold to a new owner. Brighton University’s Hillbrow Sports Centre in Eastbourne has had a 120kW BEC array on it since 2018. Now the University has sold Hillbrow to Wave Active and South Downs Health and Care. Brighton Energy worked closely with the University to ensure our lease for the solar rolled over successfully to the new owner. Our new landlord at Hillbrow is Wave Active and we look forward to working with them in the future.
Image: BEC Team & Board members; Peter Davies, David Owers, Sue Paskins, Stuart Condie, Will Cottrell, Matt Brown & Gerard Sauer
New BEC Strategy
BEC’s Team and Board held a full-on 27 hour meeting with an overnight stay to thrash out Brighton Energy Co-op’s Strategy for the next 3 years. Being able to continue the sometimes highly detailed technical conversations during meals and sleep on it all before our conclusions made for a hugely productive and successful event. Read our new BEC 3 Year Strategy here and see our KPIs here.
Image: Cardinal Newman Catholic School BEC solar installation Nov 2023
Could You Host a Community Solar PV Array?
While we’re seeing an increase in renewable energy generation, there’s still progress to be made in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. We invite more businesses and schools to partner with us in hosting community-owned solar PV arrays on their rooftops, helping to generate additional clean energy for Sussex.
Why be a solar host?
Our hosts enjoy the advantage of renewable energy generated on-site, purchasing it directly from us at a discounted rate. We take care of all costs related to installation, operation, maintenance, and insurance throughout the lease’s duration. Additionally, approximately 3% of the income from our solar electricity sales is directed into our Community Fund, which supports free, inspirational energy education for local schools via BEC’s Solar Education Programme.
We already have over 120 solar projects across Sussex – take a look at who we work with here.
To find out if your school or business might be suitable, fill in this short form to register your interest and a member of the team will get back to you with your free solar review.
If you know a local organisation or business that uses lots of electricity and has a large roof they can come to Brighton Energy Co-op for a fully-funded community-owned solar system. Ask them to contact matt@brightonenergy.org.uk
Images: Matthew’s solar buggy kit plus pupils at Coldean Primary & Aldrington Primary learning to read ammeters
Energising Energy Education in the City
Our Solar Education Programme (SEP) recently rolled its second round of school workshops, kicking off at St. Luke’s Primary. The workshop introduced pupils to an ammeter, how electricity is produced via turbines and solar panels and how to build a solar buggy!
Next up was Aldrington CofE Primary in Hove, where the children enthusiastically discussed ways to reduce their school’s carbon footprint. Then we went up to Lindfield Primary Academy, who host their own BEC solar system, and finally we returned to Coldean Primary in Brighton to meet their new Year 5 cohort and the Coldean Carbon Crushers – a group delegated with the task of driving the school’s energy use down.
We’re seeing great demand from schools for more free energy education, so the SEP team of Atlanta Cook & Matthew Holmes have now developed the workshop to suit secondary & sixth form students too. Soon we’ll be visiting Cardinal Newman Catholic School, Hove Park Upper & Hove Park Lower schools. BEC’s Community Fund also gave grants worth £5,700 to local schools for their Energy Sparks subscription to help support BHCC’s Our City, Our World sustainability programme for schools.
Read more about the fantastic work our Community Fund pays for here and email atlanta@brightonenergy.org.uk if your school is interested in a visit.
Our innovative electric car battery reuse project
BEC is working on an innovative project with BEC member Chris Bridges to tackle an increasing problem – unwanted EV batteries. Electric Vehicle batteries are generally swapped out when the battery reaches 80% ‘state of health’, meaning that there’s an increasing supply of perfectly good batteries that are ending up being junked. We’ve developed a plan to re-purpose second life EV batteries for use at some of our sites. We hope to have the first projects up and running early next year – watch this space!
BEC bondholders receive their first interest payments of 6.5%
At the end of October all of BEC’s new bondholders will have received payment of interest at a rate of 6.5% on their investment. In early November we also paid our members an annual interest payment of 5% for 2023-24, as voted for at the recent AGM.
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In other good news… We’d like to welcome Harry Tilney to the BEC team! Harry has worked in renewable energy since 2011. He has an electrical background of over 2 decades with supplementary qualifications in Solar PV & Battery Energy Storage Systems design and installation, EV charge point design and installation. Recently he’s been consulting for organisations & consultancies on decarbonisation and electrical infrastructure assessments for Solar P.V, Onshore Wind, B.E.S.S and Hydrogen systems. We’d also like to know if you know a Corporation Tax expert? BEC needs help to devise a tax incentive for landlords with large commercial buildings. Tenants tend to benefit from the cheaper, greener solar electric – so what’s in it for the landlord? Lastly, thanks to all of you – our Members, Bondholders, Partner Sites and Supporters – for continuing to push forward local action on climate change. Together we can drive down the city’s carbon emissions whilst also saving local schools, colleges, universities, churches and businesses much needed cash.
Best wishes, Brighton Energy Co-op If you’d like to know more about joining Brighton Energy Co-op you can find the Why Get Involved In Community Energy page here. You can sign up for our newsletter here. Feel free to share our newsletter with your friends & colleagues!
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