Agenda item

Repowering London

Repowering London have provided the attached paper; ‘Making Community Energy in Southwark’.

 

Afsheen Kabir Rashid, Chief Operating Officer, and Felix Wight, Technical Director will present.

 

 

Minutes:

Afsheen Kabir Rashid, Chief Operating Officer, referred to the paper that Repowering London provided; ‘Making Community Energy in Southwark’.

 

She explained that Repowering London started in Brixton where they pioneered the financial model; at this point she was working within the council as a sustainability officer and Lambeth was positioning itself as a cooperative council. In those days most solar schemes were in rural areas; so this was both an early urban scheme and also the first scheme on a social housing estate.

 

The early schemes raised capital through a community share offer; many of the people who brought the first shares were not expecting to see their money again, but wanted to make this happen.  However it was a success and a year on many were surprised to see a cheque in the post. The model was based in Brixton and focused on ensuring that those residents who did not have the means to invest would see the benefits.

 

Most initial schemes used little of the electricity on site as there is only a limited amount that can be consumed in the day by the communal areas when solar power is being generated. The schemes were selling most of the electricity back to the grid as the local consumption was restricted to the communal areas and demand was limited. At the same time residents were paying 13p per unit of electricity, however the scheme was generating only 4p by selling to the grid. This seemed a flaw in the model; however to supply cheap energy directly to residents you have to be registered as an energy supplier and there are various regulations governing this. Repowering therefore had to think carefully about how to generate benefit on the estate to residents directly. The project engaged with residents to ask them by knocking on doors and holding events. A ring fenced community fund was created to enable local investment. The early models created a surplus to generate this: the costs were met; returns to investors were capped, and the extra enabled the creation of funds which were then spent on resident priorities.

 

Having both a cooperative in place locally, and a community pot of money, has provided additional leverage. This has enabled a number of schemes chosen by residents to be realised that combine alleviating poverty with reducing carbon. Energy Cafes work to reduce fuel poverty. A current scheme is working with 55 young people via an internship and mentoring programme which trains young people at risk of exclusion in community energy. This is an accredited programme, which came out of a demand from local parents on estates to provide something for young people.

 

Each year it gets tougher to make theses schemes as the FiT has decreased, alongside a lack of national support and uncertainty. However London does now have a supportive Mayor which is helping and feasibility studies are being funded. Repowering London are looking to pre-register a number of schemes for FiT.

 

Afsheen was asked if Community Energy projects would be viable post FiT and she responded that that they would through a combination of share offers, selling to the grid, grants and carbon offset funds. Currently the focus is largely on utilising sites where they can generate more electricity to sell on site so there has been an increased focus on leisure centres, schools and community centres. Some roofs are not suitable; we know what these are through experience. The price of solar installation is also coming down. The model will emerge post FiT as the market will respond.

 

Repowering London also has three trails looking at local electricity supply models. These are particularly focused on providing solar energy directly to residents in multiple occupancy communal housing; so this relates to the council commitment to reduce resident energy bills through community energy. The pilots are working with different partners; cooperative energy; EDF, and Verve, a technical partner looking at blockchain and peer to peer. These are all very technical and confidential at the moment.  Repowering’s aim is to safeguard the needs of residents and to attempt to provide solar energy directly and cheaply to residents. Two were part of sandbox trails which gives some flexibility with regulations; these are being scrutinised by Ofcom. Repowering hope that these trails can be utilised once the testing is finished, however no one silver bullet has emerged yet. She finished by urging people not to hold back as the asset will generate electricity and money. Keeping momentum is important; the solutions will emerge.

Supporting documents: