Community Energy Warwickshire has announced that it is pressing ahead with its share offer
With the announcement last week of the Government's proposals for deep cuts to feed-in tariffs for solar energy schemes, it's hard to imagine that only as recently as July Energy Minister Greg Barker described the exciting and hugely innovative plan by Co-operatives UK member Community Energy Warwickshire as "exactly the kind of project delivered through exactly the kind of partnership we need to see more of".
Community Energy Warwickshire, a community energy co-operative which has just launched a share offer to fund the installation of solar panels on roofs of Stratford and Warwick hospitals, is inviting local people to help it raise £100,000 by 21st November. The aim is to complete an initial installation before 12th December – the date proposed by the Government for cuts in feed-in tariffs.
The organisation has been set up as an Industrial & Provident Society, with assistance from Co-operatives UK, as well as business development advice delivered via the Co-operative Enterprise Hub. The initiative is part of a growing number of co-operative energy businesses which are owned by members and run for members. The co-operative model is a perfect antidote to current energy practices – co-operative forms of ownership put their members in control of where profits go, in this case back to the community or to invest in viable green energy projects.
The financial rewards for investors in Community Energy Warwickshire will be modest, because the bulk of the profits generated from the plants will be ploughed back into smaller projects to help people in Warwickshire to lead greener lives.
What unites the co-operative initiatives is a shared belief that people, not pounds, should and have to be at the heart of a transformation in the way we generate and use energy. Community Energy Warwickshire are aiming to demonstrate this. The Government is jeopardising it.
To find out more about the FIT review – and what Co-operatives UK are doing about it – please read Mary Rayner's blog. You can find out more about co-operative energy initiatives here.
