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Sun-tastic

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As the year comes to a close, we would like to send a huge, solar-powered THANK YOU to all our members and supporters for being part of the SELCE community.

2016 has been another challenging but extremely productive year for SELCE. Here are some key figures to illustrate our achievements so far:

£370,000 raised to install

326kWp of solar energy on 7 local primary schools

leading to 142 tonnes of carbon dioxide avoided each year

and saving our partner schools £445,000 in energy bills over 20 years.

We have also provided energy advice to over 1000 households   and raised over £100,000 in grant funding to support our work

reducing fuel poverty in SE London.

Here's to more sun-sational intiatives in 2017!   (Picture: from right to left: Sergio Olivares, Simon Quame, Andrew Rendel, Giovanna Speciale, Joseph Swift, Camilla Berens, Alex Hartley and Clare Silcock. Photo: Adam Pope.)

Additional £1,000 raised from investors

We would like to give an extra big thank you to investors who were kind enough to donate their first annual interest payment (from our 2015 community share offer) to our fuel poverty pot.  A grand total of £1,241 was raised. Half of this money will be used to develop our 'Parent Power' programme (see article below) and half we'll be used for our 'Energy Guardian' service which will provide follow-up support to the most vulnerable clients we meet at our pop-up energy advice cafes in Lewisham and Greenwich.

You can find out more about our energy cafes on this short video which was commissioned by the Ebico Trust.

Free fuel poverty training sessions for front-line workers

Are you a front-line worker? Do you know anyone who works in this field? SELCE has secured funding from the government-run Big Energy Saving Network to provide free training sessions for front-line workers so that they can better support people who are affected by fuel poverty.

The sessions last for about 30 minutes and cover the following:

An explanation of what fuel poverty is, who it affects and what impact it has on health How to get the best deals on energy bills What support and funding available - locally and nationally What schemes are available specifically to help vulnerable clients

More details and the booking form can be found here.   Early booking is advised. For further details, contact the Selce office on 0208 269-4882 and ask for Alex Hartley.

Please help us to spread the word.

SELCE receives second business award

A few weeks ago, SELCE’s chair, Camilla Berens and one of its directors, Simon Quamie (our IT expert), made a special trip to Lewisham Old Town Hall to receive an award on behalf of the co-operative. SELCE was presented with this year's Mayor’s Award for the Best Social Enterprise from Lewisham’s mayor, Sir Steve Bullock. The award follows on from a similar award SELCE received from the mayor of Greenwich last year.  Now we have two framed certificates hanging on the office wall.

Recruiting for 'Parent Power' project

Do you know anyone who would be interested in working on a part-time project for SELCE? The co-operative has been awarded funding from the Energy People Trust for ‘Parent Power’. This is an innovative programme that will identify families in extreme fuel poverty and provide them with tailored, peer­-led assistance.

The Parent Power project will provide support to 150 families who use the children’s centre services in Woolwich. The idea is to recruit a team of parents to become ‘energy champions’. These champions will receive a professional qualification that will equip them with the skills to give energy advice. Champions will work with families who have been identified as being at risk of fuel poverty by Children’s Centre staff and will provide them the relevant support in their homes.

We are now recruiting a project manager to lead this initiative. We’re looking for someone who is experienced in providing energy advice, initiating energy saving measures in the home and working with volunteers. If you are interested, or you know anyone who might be interested, please contact Giovanna.  Full details of the job can be found here.

Use the 'Solar Roller' for free:

For those of you who haven't yet been introduced to the Solar Roller, we are now able to provide a solar powered generator to replace dirty, noisy, diesel generators at outdoor events. The Solar Roller produces no noise, no carbon emissions and it runs up to eight hours in the absence of sunlight (it has a battery capacity of 7.5kWh).  You can find out more on our website.

If you, or your organisation, is interested in hiring the Solar Roller, please complete our short survey.  (It takes less than 3 minutes to complete).

One lucky respondent, chosen at random, will win free use of the solar roller at one event. If you have any questions please contact Pegah.

Community energy: a European perspective

At the beginning of December, SELCE’s CEO, Dr Giovanna Speciale, was invited to join a community energy delegation to visit the European Union (EU) headquarters in Brussels. Here, she tells us what she discovered:

The UK’s departure from the EU has dominated the news this year. But what does this mean for the community energy sector in the UK? The Brussels experience gave me the chance to meet MEPs and get a better understanding of the EU and its institutions. It also gave me the opportunity to learn from other European community energy initiatives, to catch up with community energy practitioners from the UK and, somewhat inevitably, a chance to ponder the myriad implications of Brexit!

The tour was led and organised by Jodie Giles of Regen and Jenny Coles of Plymouth Community Energy. Although the delegation was mostly made up of community energy groups from the South West (Easton Energy, Bristol Energy Co-op, Exeter Community Energy, Tamar Energy Community, South Dartmoor Community Energy, Dorset Community Energy, Woodland Valley Farm), SELCE was invited along with a few other groups from outside the region including Repowering London, Carbon Coop, Community Energy South and Awel Aman Tawe.

The delegation was provided with insights into the progress of community energy in Europe from experts: Dirk Vansintjan, a founder of the Flanders-based co-operative retailer Ecopower and President of REScoop (the community energy federation with over 1,500 members around Europe); Gert De Block of European Federation of Local Energy Companies (who represents European municipal energy organisations); and Christoph Rasch of Greenpeace Energy.

The policy landscape in Germany, Denmark and Belgium over the past couple of decades has enabled the rapid growth of a community energy movement. Dirk, in particular, spoke of their work in enabling their members to make the transition from passive energy consumers to ‘prosumers’. With the emergence of advanced, smarter technology, consumers can now make more informed choices about energy usage and become energy producers and storers.

According to Sonia Dunlop, from Solar Power Europe, an innovative new community energy model from Germany known as 'Mieterstrom' [link to wider report] would allow residents of blocks of flats to co-operatively own and benefit from solar generation and storage.

Many of the speakers welcomed some of the proposals that form part of European Union's new 'Winter Package' on clean energy policy but they felt that it still rewards polluters. The future for community energy is unclear; changes to subsidy systems for renewable energy in Germany may make it far more difficult for small renewable energy co-operatives to continue playing a role in the energy transition.

The most eye-opening insights of the trip were afforded by a whistle-stop tour of the institutions that make up the EU from civil servant Henry Wasung and our host, MEP, Molly Scott Cato. I was surprised by how little I knew about the operation of the Commission and the Parliament or the interrogative process of debate and review that MEPs carry out prior to any new legislation. The contrasts to our somewhat dysfunctional adversarial system at Westminster were stark.

Similarly, I hadn’t realised the extent of the UK’s reliance on EU agencies and functions particularly with regard to energy. Our energy system is intimately connected to Europe's not only in the form of electricity inter-connectors but also in terms standards and regulations governing everything from energy efficient fridges to new smart meter standards.

It is unthinkable that we can become self-sufficient in this area, especially if we are serious about achieving our 2050 carbon emissions targets. Without wishing to take sides on the Brexit debate, the divorce from the EU is likely to be far more difficult and time-consuming that some politicians would have you believe.

In or out, I would like SELCE to develop greater links with energy co-ops across Europe that share our vision of low carbon, needs-led, democratically-governed, energy system. Many thanks to Jenny and Jodie for organising the trip and Molly and her PA Harriet for helping to make it all happen.

Wishing you lots of happiness in the year to come

www.SELCE.org.uk

Copyright © 2015 South East London Community Energy, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is: SELCE, c/o GCDA, Unit 6, Greenwich Centre Business Park, 53 Norman Road, London SE10 9QF Tel: 020 8269-4882 Email: info@selce.org.uk

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