£20,000 grant to kick start your own community energy scheme
A few months ago the government set up a new fund to kick start community energy schemes. The Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) is designed to get the ball rolling - the first bit of the fund is a grant of up to £20,000. To apply for the fund, you need to be able to...
DECC Minister Greg Barker visits Brighton Energy Coop
Yesterday Energy Minister Greg Barker and Kemptown MP Simon Kirby met Brighton Energy Coop to discuss community energy in Sussex. The two MPs inspected our solar systems on St George's Church, along with members of the St George's team. Mr Barker was very...
BEC passes a year old – and great output figures!
Brighton Energy Coop's solar installations have been reveling in the glorious weather: this summer has been a stunning opportunity to see our panels pumping out clean electricity at full force. Above is the output from our system at City Coast Church - going great...
BEC to launch 2nd solar project, trebling in size
Hi folks, Exciting news! Within the next few months Brighton Energy Coop will launch our second project, which will add more than 400kw of new solar capacity to our current systems. We'll be doing it the same way as we did our first project last year - via a community...
Parliament discussion on new Support for Community Energy Schemes
XTRACT FROM HANSARD Tuesday 22 January 2013 Tom Greatrex: I beg to move amendment 42, in clause 6, page 5, line 4, at end insert— ‘( ) Regulations must— (a) place a duty on the Secretary of State and the Authority to promote new generation capacity from community...
Claiming EIS tax back from your BEC investment
Brighton Energy Coop has just qualified for EIS tax status. This means investors in BEC can claim 30% of the money they invested into Brighton Energy Coop as an EIS tax rebate. To do this, email info (at) brightonenergy.org.uk and we'll then provide you with a...
Hidden in plain sight: Solar Grid Parity within six months
Something unthinkable is about to happen in the energy sector. Something so far away from the edge-of-a-precipice feeling that often envelopes renewable energy that it's hard - at first - to comprehend. And yet it will utterly transform our electricity generation....
Solar prices continue to tumble
In contrast to public perception, solar power just gets cheaper and cheaper. The price of some panels have fallen up to 28% in 2012, and most panels are becoming 3-5% cheaper each month. The falling price of solar has nothing to do with the UK. Instead, it's being...
Our first 3 months output figures & notes from AGM
Hi folks, Well, we've been the proud owner of our solar systems for three months now, so I'm pleased to enclose a bit of data as to how they're performing. Do feel free to share the following images on Facebook etc! Below you'll also find a summary of our AGM, which...
Renewable developers should join Energy Coops
Brighton Energy Coop is calling for companies developing renewables to support community-energy schemes, following the launch of a consultation by DECC. Our proposal is that private renewable energy developments help finance locally-owned energy projects as part of...
Brighton Energy Coop overperforming by 10%
Brighton Energy Coop's solar systems are outperforming expectations by at least 10% since we installed in mid July. As the graphs here show, our solar system at Hove Enterprise Centre (HEC - 66% of our total system) has now generated nearly 20,000 KwH of solar...
The Sky’s the Limit – installation begins at City Coast Church
CityCoast Church is hosting one of Brighton Energy Co-op’s solar arrays. Here, Simon Lewis, operations manager at the church, explains why they got involved and what benefits the energy scheme will bring. Today, the scaffolding went up on CityCoast Centre in...
Guardian ‘Money’ section recommends BEC
Hi Folks, The Guardian's 'Money' section yesterday recommended community-minded investors take a look at Brighton Energy Coop as a place to put their money. As the piece says, community schemes offer savers 6%-8% returns a year and a clear conscience. It's worth...
Panels live at Shoreham Port – 2 weeks of share offer to go!
Exciting news: forty of our solar panels were installed today at Shoreham Port. These are the first of our community-owned solar array at the Hove Enterprise Centre; 200 more will go on our five roofs there in the next few weeks. Together they will form the largest...
Sun shines on Lewes community energy
Brighton Energy Co-op is following a tested business model. It was punctiliously been researched from websites like https://www.salesforce.com/solutions/small-business-solutions/resources/what-is-a-small-business/ and ensured that it was a tried-and-tested method....
Since 2010 we’ve raised over £3M, have 600 members and have built 63 sites
Money raised (£)
Members
Sites Built
“None of this would be possible without you.
BEC isn’t backed by venture capitalists or private equity, pension funds or fossil fuel companies. The only money we get is from you, our Members.
The £3 million we’ve raised to date is purely community investment.
We’ve no debt, and 80% of the money is from Brighton itself.
This is community energy in action!”
Get in Touch. Get Involved.
Contact us here with any of your questions about Brighton Energy Co-op, community energy, sustainable investment or our#SolarForSchools campaign.
