Bristol Energy Co-op share offer and Bemmy energy project discussion

[Eric Booth]

Two items that may be of interest. I should declare an interest as a director of Bristol Energy Co-op.

Bristol Energy Co-op have a share offer open at the moment. A chance to invest in PV schemes on community buildings in Bristol. None in BS3 at the moment... http://www.bristolenergy.coop/solar-share-offer-2013.html

Below is an extract of an exchange that may be of interest, initiated by an idea from Sean Kenny about a Bemmy energy project.

--------------------------------------------------------------

On 5 November 2013 20:02, sean <xxx.xxx> wrote:

I contacted Piers for advice and to pick his brains about an idea I had for retrofitting the street I live on in Southville (Langton Pk. off North St. ) to try and establish who if anyone else was doing something similar and what would be involved in a project of this type.

I'm currently envisaging a complete retrofit for over 100 houses, two long terraces, including, solar power generation, external insulation and  rainwater collection

It's a little difficult to know what approach to take, do I do all the planning and the maths and approach my neighbours with a fait accompli or do I try and get as many of them as possible on board before we have even the bare bones of a plan so that potential backers or supporters are attracted to a groundswell of interest. Obviously I'd really appreciate some input into this and Piers thinks you may be of benefit to talk to for this.

--------------------------------------------------------------

On 6 November 2013 10:18, Bridget Newbery <Bridget...@cse.org.uk> wrote:

Hi Sean

Sounds really interesting… and ambitious.

Outside CSE, I volunteer for Bedminster Energy Group and we’ve identified bulk buy schemes as one of 4 projects to prioritise over the next 6 months, so this seems like very good timing.

ECO finance is not at all easy though, and would not cover 100% of whole house retrofit costs – it’s likely householders would need to put in a large proportion of the money which, alongside the disruption, could be a big barrier. Bedminster Energy have been in talks with Urbane Eco (a Bristol building firm) about ways to attract ECO funding for insulation jobs, and have been contacted by a local resident who’s already keen to develop a whole street solar PV scheme. BEG has a local mailing list of about 450 residents and we do semi-regular engagement events.

Bristol Power Co-op / Green Community Warmth also seem to have some funding for rolling out solar and retrofit which would be worth following up.

In terms of the best approach, engagement at the earliest possible stage would make sense to me, although enough work needs to have been done to make sure that there are viable options to discuss. Currently our advice (as CSE) for community projects looking at ECO is to wait a bit longer and to refer householders to the CSE home energy advice line to find out about grants and subsidies (most of which are for boiler upgrades and cavity wall insulation, targeting low income and vulnerable householders). The second half of this guidance explains ECO in a bit more detail.

Do you work in the sector already? Do you envisage this as a business opportunity? You may already be well aware of all of this stuff - if so apologies! If not, here are links to a bit more information…

There are some useful insights into CSE’s experiences with Green Deal and ECO so far (including the ECO scheme we are running in Bath) on the blog, here, and write ups of several Green Deal and ECO pilots (e.g. Bristol Home Energy Upgrade) on the right hand side of this page. here, and write ups of several Green Deal and ECO pilots (e.g. Bristol Home Energy Upgrade) on the right hand side of this page.

This PlanLoCaL video is about area wide retrofit, and there are a number of videos and write ups of the Bristol Green Doors ‘tackling the terrace’ project – including the case study onthis page. Jackson Moulding, who put together a Bristol based solar thermal PV scheme, ‘Let’s Go Solar’, features in this film, also part of the PlanLoCaL resources about community based energy efficiency projects. There is a lot of experience in Bristol and lots of avenues being explored already!

A meeting in a month or so sounds like a good idea. BEG has its next meeting on 18th Nov and will have a stand at the East St market on 7th Dec in case that affects timing.

--------------------------------------------------------------

On 7 Feb 2014, at 15:51, Eric Booth <er...@13alpha.net> wrote:

Really struck a note with me Sean as I’ve been thinking about initiating just a scheme in ‘Alphaville’, the name of our residents group. We’ve been running a street party for 3 years and have extended now into neighbourhood watch, beginning of a street audit and a neighbourhood plan. We’re also having conversations about residents parking, bringing in more green and what to do about seagulls.  For some of us the purpose of this community work has always been to use it for a foundation for other community activities, with energy being one of them.

It’s no more than in idea at the moment, but the gist of it is exactly like yours. In our immediate area there is St Paul’s church, Southbank Club, Hollidge Gardens, Holy Cross school and church, and Tomas Davis funeral director each of which has a large roof area. There are then also perhaps 150 households.  

My thought was to use the financial modelling of the Bristol Energy Co-op (of which I’m a director), together with the community financing model they run, to open discussions initially with a core of interested people and the large buildings, and then wider.  The ‘easy’ thing is to focus on pv, but the real thing of course is in retrofit and energy efficiency. This is much more tricky to make work. 

I had high hopes that we were going to have a practical model to deliver solutions and include all the complicated stuff about ECO funding and trusted suppliers by a partnership with a co-op from the midlands called the Energy Saving Co-op who had all the necessary accreditation and had teams on the ground working with a number of LAs. However in the last month they’ve ceased trading; a victim of the uncertainly on future of green investment, ECO and the toxic ‘Green Deal’ brand (https://www.energysaving.coop/board-announcement-the-energy-saving-co-operative-ceases-trading/).  

There are other possibilities, notably through what is being planned by Bristol City Council, but it just doesn’t feel like the right time for a major push on retrofit other than continuing the promotion work of Bedminster Energy Group. I do wonder about the PV idea though as a way of building momentum (and noting the current share offer).

Just some info and musings really.

Eric

[Ben Barker]

Does anyone want to rewrite this in a very much shorter form as a news item for GBCP NEWSLETTER?

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "Sustainable BS3" Google group. This means that:
- you can send an email to all members of the group by emailing sustainable...@googlegroups.com
- you can see all current and previous discussions by topic, and change your details by visiting http://groups.google.com/group/sustainable-southville?hl=en-GB?hl=en-GB
- you can unsubscribe from this group by emailing sustainable-south...@googlegroups.com
 
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sustainable BS3" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sustainable-south...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Bridget Newbery]

Hi both

A little later than planned, here is a bit of a brain dump on current activity. Feel free to use for a GBCP newsletter, edit, or ditch if this isn't really what you were looking for...

Bridget

---

From: Ben Barker <benb...@blueyonder.co.uk>
To: Eric Booth <er...@13alpha.net>; sustainable...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, 13 February 2014, 8:20
Subject: Re: [SBS3] Bristol Energy Co-op share offer and Bemmy energy project discussion