Kelsale-cum-Carlton Community Energy (Power4KcC) Presentation for Community Energy meeting - Walpole Geoff Fordham & Keith Dickerson Monday, 1 September 2014
This presentation • The background • Choosing a project • The first project • The process • The results • Some reflections 2
The background December 2011: Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF) £60k for feasibility and demonstration projects: • Household survey • Energy audits • Solid wall insulation demonstrations • Feasibility studies on wind, solar PV, biomass, ground source heat pumps, etc Parish council sub-committee formed to execute 3
Why Community Owned Energy? Help reduce impact of rising fuel bills: • For community facilities and… • …perhaps villagers struggling with fuel bills Securing more stable supply Demonstrate the potential of renewables Offer potential return for investors – and… … maybe some funds for village activities 4
Why a co-op? Community-owned and shareholdings open to all – Individuals and Organisations (e.g. VHMC, Suffolk County Council) Maximum shareholding - £20,000 per individual All decisions ...controlled by the membership Flexibility to allocate surplus to: • Shareholders OR • Community benefit OR • Mix of two All members get one vote irrespective of value of shareholding 5
How our co-op works Membership: • Minimum required is 1 share of £20 • Individual investments up to 1000 shares • Currently 107 shareholders! Board elected by membership Maybe some paid admin help in future? All decisions taken by membership and executed by Board AGM decides value of dividend to be issued 6
Choosing a project Criteria: affordable, non-controversial, demonstrable community benefit Preferred project: Kelsale primary school Next best option: village hall… • …but Grade II* listed, • …highly shaded backyard, • …so – ground mounted in adjacent field 7
The first project: Power for the Village Hall 8
How does it work? • 32 Solar PV panels in field behind Village Hall • Cable feed to separate meters in Village Hall and Social Club 9
Costs and returns Competitive tender - 3 bids received East Green Energy won 32 Phono Solar PS250M PV modules …combined with 32 Enphase micro -inverters Installed capacity: 8 kW Annual Output: 6,862 kWh (units) Total Costs: ~£17.5K including installation Estimated Income (FIT + export): £1,426/year Estimated CO2 savings: 3,212 kg/year Return on capital: 3-4% (after depreciation, insurance, maintenance etc) 10
Benefits to Village Hall Village Hall gets free day time electricity Social Club gets half price electricity Initial 3 year agreement with each • afterwards at discretion of AGM Opportunity to join co-op • + get seat on Board? Help with securing £15K grant (matched funding) from SCC to: • improve loft insulation • install secondary glazing • install storage heaters 11
The process and timing Planning application submitted – 14 January 2014 • SCDC approval – 22 April 2014 Ofgem pre-registration applied for – 28 March 2014 • approval to use 2013/14 FIT – 19 May 2014 Co-op (IPS) registered with FCA – 28 March 2014 • Interim Board of Directors – 13 April 2014 Share prospectus issued – 8 May 2014 • £17,500 received – 18 July 2014 Decision to Proceed Solar Arrays installed / commissioned – 18 August 2014 Now producing >100 kWh per week Inaugural AGM – September 2014 • to formally elect Directors First AGM – Summer 2015 • to agree first dividend 12
Screwing in the supports 13
Digging the trench 14
1 st array with inverters in place 15
Enphase micro-inverter on each panel 16
2 nd array with panels in place 17
The grand opening 18
Some further projects… 2 nd phase of Solar PV for Village Hall? • Approval for up to 20kW from UKPN Solar PV on cowshed roof at East Green? • Have to examine economics Wind turbine at East Green? • Up to 50kW – economics better with larger projects Biomass boiler for primary school? • 3-4 year payback? Solar PV on pensioners' cottages? • Renting roof space from people who want solar PV but can't afford it? Buying in energy in bulk from the big suppliers? 19
Some reflections Overcoming conservatism Conundrum: inclusivity vs scale of project: £250 minimum investment is standard Therefore – appropriate geographic scale: county-wide co-ops? • Gloucestershire • Hampshire • Leicestershire Definition of co-op: new FCA interpretation Role of local authorities: shareholders? (see Localism Act)
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