Powering Communities Fund case studies

In December 2023, Aldgate Solar Power (ASP) held its final Creative Energy Club of the year and it was a resounding success! The club used art and creativity to make community energy more fun, engaging and inclusive and the results didn’t disappoint.

The event itself was enjoyed by a wide and diverse range of participants. Everyone had the chance to make their own renewable-powered villages out of clay, and afterwards, ASP led a discussion on cooperative values and how they could play a vital role in community energy. In the coming months, ASP is hoping to hire out a private venue, where the final art pieces will be publicly displayed.

Throughout 2023, ASP ran three separate creative energy clubs, with nearly 40 people taking part in creating art and learning about community energy, solar power and the big key players in the energy systems. ASP wanted to think outside the box when developing this club, trying to re-think the culture around energy, by finding experimental ways to make it more engaging to a whole new audience.

Originally, ASP had only planned on running three clubs, but as they were so popular, word spread and spots started to fill up quickly and it quickly became over-subscribed. As a result, we partnered with ASP to extend these projects, to make sure everyone who wanted to get involved got the chance to.

If you are in the local area and you missed out then don’t fear, the Creative Energy Club is also planning to make a return in the Spring so keep your eyes peeled as we will promote it on our events page.

In October 2023, the Pant Memorial Hall, with a little help from the Powering Communities Fund, completed its journey to becoming a fully sustainably powered building, by finishing the installation of 28 solar panels across it's roof. Since the additional panels were installed on the entrance lobby roof, the building now generates enough solar energy to be powered throughout the day, night and support the Tesla power wall bank next to the building.

The Hall is run entirely by volunteers, and by partnering with Younity and being awarded the Powering Communities Fund, it’s enabled improvements that mean it can continue to be the heartbeat of this rural community.

In partnership with Weston College, Burnham & Weston's vision is to enable young people within their local community deliver a Community Energy Youth Summit. Both partners recognise how important it is to listen to young people as they have been the demographic that has been most difficult to engage.  This engagement project will enable the partnership to  both see and hear what opportunities are needed locally for community energy youth support.

Isles of Scilly Community Venture are looking to engage local young people to grow awareness about where energy comes from on the their islands. The youth engagement team will be running a series of workshops with local school children discussing the sources of electricity, and the sustainability of the energy sources of local transport.  This engagement initiative will introduce them to the ways they can measure this with the data they have available. The school children will be invited to unleash their creativity to design exciting digital ways of communicating their ideas. Finally, designs that young people have created in the workshops will be built as real energy projects with live web dashboards. This information will be used to bring wider public engagement about community energy, where energy comes from and proposals as to how it can be further decarbonised.

Cwm Arian Renewable Energy would like to purchase thermal imaging household survey kits. This vitally important equipment will be used by Energy Champions and 3 peer mentors to help CARE expand its ground-breaking work in supporting vulnerable households and energy customers. Getting ready for what could be a devastating winter - with extremely high energy prices being forecast. 

Killington Hydro (Rainepower) have some exciting news to share with their local community. They are setting up and running a much needed local Energy Club. This club will support the local community by linking the generation of the hydro energy with local people thus allowing volunteers and local residents (many elderly and potentially vulnerable) to benefit from a nearby renewable energy source. This vitally important club’s work will be carried out by Energy Local in partnership with the Trustees with the assistance of a project manager

Tamar Energy Community are working with a researcher at Plymouth University on how best to utilise and access substation and domestic meter data. They want to combine this information to help them develop a young person's net zero champions community at each of their solar sites. The funding will allow them to secure SMETS meter data, provide engagement materials and external support for working with young people.

Ynni Ogwen Cyf would like to expand their existing community solar scheme, which provides clean electricity to community owned buildings. The funding will finally allow them to install PV’s and a battery to assist with the site becoming even more self-sufficient.

Working in partnership with:

DEG Cymru Wales

Dyffryn Ogwen

Partneriaeth Ogwen

Repowering London developed ReCreate, an education programme for Y5 Primary school children to teach them about climate change in an age-appropriate and positive way through the art of drama. The grant will help them deliver a ReCreate pilot in a London primary school, with a view to rollout out the scheme to as many schools as possible. To find out more about the ReCreate programme please visit www.repowering.org.uk

The Harbury Future Energy project needed to purchase and erect a wind data monitoring and recording device for them to gain more accurate estimates of potential energy generation.

Southill Community Energy (SCE) requested funds for the purchase and installation of cattle fencing at Southill, to allow conservation grazing on the southern portion of the site.

SELCE is committed to fighting fuel poverty amongst the most vulnerable residents in South East London. They will use the money to produce two films; one explaining how they can support clients struggling to pay their fuel bills and another explaining how to fit light measures.

Awel Aman Tawe wanted to develop an online education resource pack for teachers, youth groups and home educators on renewable energy, co-ops and low carbon solutions to climate change. Where better to invest the Younity Community Power Fund?

Creating opportunities for school leavers and graduates to learn about running an environmental business? That's a cause Younity just had to help. Our Community Energy Fund allowed young people to learn about sustainable energy, whilst being fully paid for seven weeks of full-time work.

Blending sustainable agriculture with solar energy... what could be better? Southill Community Energy wanted to enable sheep grazing within the solar farm, to replace the system of mowing which is carbon intensive and compacts the ground.