December 2015 From the Centre for Sustainable For further support Visit www.cse.org.uk/communities or email communities@cse.org.uk. And for the best tools and guides, go to TheSource: www.cse.org.uk/thesource. Sign up for this monthly newsletter at www.cse.org.uk/communities-update Over 1,830 people follow us on Twitter. We re at www.twitter.com/@cse_communities COP21 It s unlikely that the conference on climate change that took place this month in Paris has escaped your notice, but we couldn t send out our December newsletter without mentioning it. Here are a couple of interesting pieces that CSE staff have found useful to make sense of the deal that s been made between nations: From Green Alliance: www.bit.ly/1t3rjjz From The Conversation: www.bit.ly/1z5mq0q Feed-in tariffs: the government s long-awaited announcement... See page 5 Â continued overleaf
section 1 The latest CSE news... Funding for community buildings near Triodos Renewables sites Last month we told you that Triodos Renewables were about to launch their community benefit fund; well it s now open for applications! Buildings that are used as a community facility and are located in the vicinity of a Triodos Renewables wind turbine or hydro plant can apply for up to 4,000 to make various energy improvements. There are Triodos Renewables sites in England, Wales and Scotland as shown on the map below, but to be eligible you really need to be very close to one of these. A list of postcode areas is given in this guidance document: www.bit.ly/1nux2qt The scheme is open from November 2015 to November 2016 and grants will be awarded on a monthly basis. The kind of improvements that can be funded varies from simple measures like draught proofing to larger building upgrades like renewable energy systems, subject to an energy survey completed by the building s representative. 1 Read more at: www.cse.org.uk/trcbf 2 3 Another successful round of funding from WPD Sadly the Western Power Distribution Chest has closed its doors for 2015 having handed out the full 50,000 allocation. In its fourth round of funding, grants were awarded to 55 community buildings to make low cost energy saving improvements. The scheme, which started in 2010, has now benefitted over 200 buildings, like village halls and community centres, across WPD s network. In this round we noticed a big increase in the number of applications for LED lighting. This reflects the huge advances in the technology over the past five years and a wider understanding of the benefits. LED lights can save a whopping 90% of a building s lighting bill, which for community spaces can be quite significant. So it s no wonder that so many have opted for lighting upgrades, with plans to use the savings made to pay for further improvements in the future. Two case studies of buildings which have had an LED lighting upgrade can be found here: www.bit.ly/1m9nbzj For more on this year s fund see: www.bit.ly/1rtmgbv Our neighbourhood planning support we want to hear from you! 2 Wind farm 4 Hydro scheme 4 5 We are almost half way through our neighbourhood planning support programme and we re keen to review how effective our free support has been, and whether there are any changes we could make to improve it. Whether you ve flicked through our neighbourhood planning guidebook, or had more detailed support from us over the phone or in person, please take 5 minutes to give us your thoughts: www.bit.ly/1nbgfjp 6 1 Sigurd 2 Clayfords 3 Auchtygills 4 Beochlich 5 Dunfermline 6 Haverigg II 7 Caton Moor 8 Wern Ddu 9 Avonmouth 10 Boardinghouse 11 Ransonmoor 12 March (Greenvale) 13 Eye 14 Ness Point 15 Kessingland 8 9 7 14 11 13 15 10 12
section 2 The latest community news... Useful tools to help you with community development At the risk of sounding like a broken record, if you re planning an energy project then engaging with the wider community before you start is a must. A number of CSE staff recently received training from the Development Foundation (www.cdf.org.uk) so we thought we d share some of the useful engagement tools and resources we found out about. Participatory Appraisal is all about encouraging local people to assess and appraise their communities and can be an effective way to consult with local people, giving their views a priority when it comes to deciding on what action to take. See www.3ps.org.uk/index.html for a range of resources. Appreciative Inquiry is another technique used for community development, focussing on strengths rather than weaknesses to encourage active and effective community participation to work towards a goal that s more likely to be deliverable. See www.appreciatingpeople.co.uk And you can find out more about effective community development via www.justact.org.uk. Bristol Co-op bond Just as we were finalising this newsletter Bristol Co-op announced their first bond offer to develop a solar farm in Somerset. A bond is a different way to invest than buying shares, giving investors the option to cash in their bonds after three years. The offer closes on 31 January 2016 and the minimum investment is 500. See www.ethex.org.uk/bristolbond for details. Onshore wind projects provide local community benefit Triodos Renewables isn t the only renewable energy developer giving something back to the communities in which their projects are located. RWE Innogy also runs successful community benefit programmes for their UK installations. The 16-turbine Goole Fields wind farm in Yorkshire, for example, has provided 46,000 to 14 local groups and clubs including Snaith Juniors FC, Rawcliffe Badminton Club, Eadon Place Residents Association, and Marshlands Primary School. It is exciting to see these first round of awards come through and to see the wind farm support so many varied groups within the Goole community, said Katy Woodington, RWE Innogy UK s Senior Investment Officer. Over the project s lifetime the fund will be worth more than 1.6m which we hope will make a significant long term difference to community development in the area. See more at: www.bit.ly/1truwrq Windfarm Goole Fields, Yorkshire [Photo by Helge Hollensen and reproduced under creative commons] continued overleaf
section 3 And some useful links... Get trained up on energy issues in the home CSE s Lead Trainer, Anna Watts, will be running a City and Guilds Level 3 Award in Awareness course in Bristol during January 2016. The course, from National Action (NEA) is aimed at those who need to know about and advise others on home energy issues. This three-day course has been running for over 25 years, reaching more than 22,000 people. This remains NEA's most popular course for energy efficiency advisors, including all the CSE staff! It will take place on Tuesday 12, Wednesday 13 and Tuesday 19 January 2016. The examination date is to be confirmed, but is likely to be in the week commencing Monday 25 January (for a full day). You need to attend all of these days to complete the course. There are just a few places left and the cost is 806+VAT, for charities and not-for-profit organisations. The cost for commercial/profit making organisations is 926+VAT. To book a place, please contact Anna Watts on 0117 934 1423 or email anna.watts@cse.org.uk. To read more about the course go to www.cse.org.uk/news/view/2068 Resource of the month CSE s Lead Trainer, Anna Watts Establishing the right partnerships www.cse.org.uk/thesource/download/establishingthe-right-partnerships-planlocal-243 If you re hoping to engage with local organisations then this guidance will help you to find the right people to talk to and tips on how to get them involved. Video of the month: Oxford Bus Company and Low Carbon Hub This short film shows how a community group in Oxford were able to link up with the local bus provider to deliver their community energy project, providing benefits to both the environment and the community www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n3kamveywy How to be a company director If you re setting up a company to deliver a community energy project then you need to find the right people to act as company directors. It s not just a case of picking somebody to put their name to the job, there are important duties that the director needs to perform. Elderflower Legal are law firm specialising in supporting small, community based businesses and they ve written this useful podcast to support new company directors www.elderflowerlegal.co.uk/portfolio-items/lawtalk-episode-1 A very happy Christmas and New Year from all of us in CSE s communities team: Rachel C, Heather, Anna, Bridget, Caitlin, Dan M, Dan S, Harriet, James & Rachel H 3 St Peter s Court Bedminster Parade Bristol BS3 4AQ 0117 934 1400 www.cse.org.uk info@cse.org.uk Charity 298740 Founded 1979 The Centre for Sustainable (CSE) is a national charity that helps people change the way they think and act on energy @cse_communities Sign up for this monthly newsletter at www.cse.org.uk/communities-update
section 4 Extra... Feed-in tariffs: the government s long-awaited announcement The Government has announced its response to the recent feed-in tariff consultation today (17 December) just in time for Christmas! Nearly 55,000 people or organisations responded to the consultation, including a school who submitted a response in the form of a papiermache sun signed by the children. The time taken by many of you to respond to the consultation was recognised, as the report clearly shows that concerns amongst community energy sector featured often in the responses. Here s an overview of what the changes might mean for community energy projects: Solar PV The new tariff rates for solar PV in most bands don t go as far as were originally proposed. The 87% drop in tariff rates for installations smaller than 10kW that was feared is a slightly less severe 65%. But for those looking at larger projects the new rates are not too dissimilar to the proposal and for installations greater than 250kW the cuts are larger than expected. Wind The biggest plus for wind is that 50-100kW installations are reducing 4p/kWh less than expected and there will still be a small tariff for projects over 1.5MW. Hydro Hydro has come off the worst with all tariff bands cut more than expected, except for projects over 2MW. DECC believes that these new tariffs should allow a 4.8% rate of return for solar, 5.9% for wind, and 9.2% for hydro. Anaerobic digestion and micro CHP were not reviewed as part of this consultation, but DECC plan to launch a separate consultation for these technologies in early 2016. The new tariffs will be introduced on 8 February 2016, and in order to protect its budget DECC will pause the scheme from 15 January. Effectively this means that installations completed on or after that date will receive the new tariff rate. The tariffs are laid out in the table opposite. Pre-accreditation The good news from the consultation is that preaccreditation will be re-introduced from 8 February 2016 Tariffs Installed Consultation New tariffs (p/kwh) capacity tariffs (Jan 2016) PV <10kW 1.63 4.39 10-50kW 3.69 4.59 50-250kW 2.64 2.70 250-1000kW 2.28 2.27 > 1000kW 1.03 0.87 Stand alone 1.03 0.87 Wind <50kW 8.61 8.54 50-100kW 4.52 8.54 100 1500kW 4.52 5.46 >1500kW 0.00 0.86 Hydro <100kW 10.66 8.54 100-500 kw 9.78 6.14 500-2000kW 6.56 6.14 >2000kW 2.18 4.43 and will be available for solar and wind projects over 50kW and for all anaerobic digestion and hydro projects. The pre-accreditation period will be 6 months for solar PV, one year for wind and two years for hydro and AD. However community energy projects can have an additional 6-month period added to any of these eligible technologies to account for the extra time needed to get these projects up and running. With no tariff guarantee available for installations with a total installed capacity less than 50kW, smaller solar PV schemes will miss out on pre-accreditation. However, DECC is planning to review this to see if it s possible to re-introduce this mechanism as well. So after months of uncertainty this announcement means that everyone knows the tariff rates going forward making it easier to plan projects and assess the financial viability of your installation. The re-introduction of pre-accreditation is definitely a good Christmas present to some degree. Despite the fact that the rates for all technologies are reducing significantly, this does at least mean that projects can pre-accredit at the rates in force when they are carrying out business planning, rather than having to deal with further degressions down the line. for those of you who missed out on getting buildings through before the previous deadline and we hope that it ll encourage you to keep thinking ambitiously about what you can achieve. If you d like to read the full Government response of the FIT review you can access it at www.bit.ly/1zdrhmz