News Blog

The UK's biggest community renewables organisation, Energy4All, recently raised £540k for an extension to the Kilbraur wind farm in Scotland. Existing shareholders of Kilbraur were invited purchase further shares to raise capital for the project. The move follows last...

Two Japanese professors visited Brighton Energy Co-op this morning to investigate how community energy might work in Japan. "After the nuclear disaster in Fukashima," said professor Takeshi Wada, of Kyoto University, "it's imperative Japan moves towards renewables....

I am very pleased to say that we are in discussions with the management of www.citycoastchurch.co.uk to install upto 35kWs of solar PV there. We will need planning approval and legal agreements in place, but this potential partnership helps us significantly in being...

We have just found that we have received planning permission from B&H Council for installing solar panels at Hove Enterprise Centre. Another positive milestone on the journey to community-owned renewable energy!

We are happy to announce that negotiations are at an advanced stage with Shoreham Port for installing upto 50kW of solar panels at the Hove Enterprise Centre and the planning application is due for approval by the end of August. We have also agreed with the Parish...

An interesting article highlighting that the deals on solar panels are better than ever and with the FiT likely to drop after March 2012 its worth taking action now on installing PV - http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jul/22/solar-power-installation-homeowners

Community group in North Yorkshire launches new hydro scheme - http://tiny.cc/nnfzm

Labour questions Government’s move to cut solar feed-in tariffs for installations over 50 kW.

2010 turnover of £16.1bn; membership of nearing 10 million - The Guardian

We were asked for our comments on the outcome of the FiT consultation process published yesterday and managed to get a paragraph in this Guardian article http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/09/community-renewables-funding. We have been working on the 'Plan...

We are progressing well with developing our portfolio of roofs to install PV on and planning our summer community share launch. We are though looking for an additional 2 or 3 roofs for hosting solar panels as part of our community-owned solar power station project.  ...

I thought that I would post up links to 4 webinars that I have hosted recently on community energy issues on the www.communitycentral.co.uk platform. Just click on the links below and then playback the webinars: 1) Finance: funding options beyond LCCC including debt...

I’ve been thinking about the idea of resilience quite a lot recently. On the ‘macro’ scale, initiating a community-owned renewable energy project is inspired by the need for us to become more resilient in the face of climate change and peak oil. Clearly installing...

While the FIT review is targeted at large scale installations, the reclassification of solar projects over 50kW as ‘large scale’ threatens community schemes too. The question for government, therefore, is at what scale can community energy projects succeed? This post...

Whilst the Feed In Tariff (FIT) review has prompted huge disappointment across the solar industry in the UK, FIT regimes across the continent have been unstable for a couple of years. So what causes governments to wobble on FITs? Too many projects Fundamentally, the...

Hi Everyone, Last month I mentioned we'd have some big news and here it is: Jeremy Leggett has joined the advisory board of Brighton Energy Co-op. This is a major step forward for us - Jeremy is probably the biggest figure in British solar. As well as being CEO of...

Twitter is ablaze with talk of the protests planned by some Saudi citizens next Friday. Saudi troops are already being deployed around the Kingdom. Before there was any sense that contagion might spread even to Saudi Arabia, some analysts were warning of $220 oil...

DECC launched a clever little simulation today that lets you decide how to move to a low carbon economy, how it looks - and whether it works or not. See the website here (http://my2050.decc.gov.uk/)

Leading community wind developers Energy4All got a green light today as planning for the Torrance Farm Community Wind Co-op was approved. Turbines will be 100% community-owned through a new Co-op. More details to follow shortly, website here

Stockport Hydro have recently raised £450K for a community energy scheme - approaching their target of £550K. It's a great example of large-scale community schemes in action. Anyone wanting to support the the scheme can register their interest at www.h2ope.co.uk and...

Hi everyone, Exciting times at Brighton Energy Co-op! After raising start-up cash through January, we are now in discussion with six different sites for our panels - including a couple of schools, a hospital, a new sports facility as well as several others. We will...

Brighton Energy Co-op cited as example of why FITs for large-scale is a good idea - our first mention in the national press. - The Guardian

Govt claims FITs diverted to large-scale solar panel installations - The Guardian

A north Worcestershire company has secured a £1.2m contract to install what they say is the UK's biggest roof-top solar power plant - BBC News