Building Community And Building Power Hheat Conference Focuses On Renewable Energy Co Operatives

BUILDING COMMUNITY AND BUILDING POWER: HHEAT CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON RENEWABLE ENERGY CO-OPERATIVES"M"umtaz Derya Tarhan"The Community Power Report"June 18, 2012"The Hamilton Halton Renewable Energy Action Team (HHEAT) hosted the 'Building Community Power CO-OPperatively: A Renewable Energy Summit' on June 10th at Burlington's beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens.The main goal of this conference, in line with HHEAT's organizational mission, was to build awareness around renewable energy and the co-operative ownership model for developing renewable energy projects. The conference aimed to achieve this through informing participating individuals and groups around the benefits and challenges associated with the model in order to provide them with inspiration and direction in joining or establishing a renewable energy co-operative. Volunteers from the conference (Source: HHEAT)Despite being held indoors on a beautiful summer day, the conference was nevertheless attended by an engaged crowd of nearly a hundred people. Visitors were welcomed by kind volunteers and stands set by community power organizations, renewable energy co-operatives and renewable energy service providers. This area provided a great opportunity for learning more about these organizations, meeting professionals and other interested individuals, and also just for having a great conversation on a lovely Sunday afternoon. In attendance were also Burlington's Mayor Goldring and Hamilton City Councillor Brian McHattie, who both shared their views on the positive impacts of renewable energy and community power, and their commitment to making their cities greener and more prosperous through such projects. Exhibitor DisplaysThe first presentation was delivered by Graham Flint, an energy specialist from HHEAT, who provided general information about his organization and the benefits of cooperatively-owned renewable energy projects. He emphasized that renewable energy co-operatives have a strong local economic impact, but what is even more important in his opinion was that they change the way we look at energy generation and consumption. Through citizen involvement and co-operation, renewable energy co-operatives ignite social and behavioural transformation. Another point Graham Flint touched upon was the impact of successful co-operatively owned renewable energy projects have on their successors. 'Generating their own clean energy provides ordinary citizens with a great sense of accomplishment. This not only encourages them to develop further project within their community, but also motivates other groups to undertake similar projects'. The cases of Germany and Denmark seem to prove him right. Germany is a global leader in renewable energy and community power with almost 25% of its electricity generated from renewable sources, and 50% of renewable energy generation is community-owned. 430 new energy cooperatives were formed since 2006 in Germany, and of the 250 new German cooperatives in 2011, 158 were energy co-operatives. Meanwhile, 80% of wind power generated in Denmark, a global leader in wind technology and generation, is cooperatively-owned. The Jam-Packed Conference Hall Harry French from Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) also presented at the conference and informed participants about valuable resources for renewable energy co-operatives that are in place in Ontario. Besides resources that exist outside of the community, he encouraged participants to pay attention to what he deems to be the most important resource for renewable energy co-operatives: Building relationships within the community.Following this encouragement to build strong relationships, the timely presentation by Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative's (TREC) James Law focused on how to build strong partnerships to develop a successful project. His eye-opening speech pointed out that partnerships are not necessarily on paper; renewable energy co-operatives must approach each and every single actor that will play a role in the success of the project as a partner, including volunteers, staff, government agencies, other co-operatives among many others.James Law also touched upon considerations for Collaboratives, Joint-Ventures and Community-Corporate Partnerships in undertaking renewable energy projects, and pointed at main elements community groups should be wary of prior to entering such joint projects. Besides representatives from leading community power organizations in Ontario, the conference also featured a presentation by Rob Yost of The Local Initiative for Future Energy (LIFE) Co-operative. Mr. Yost provided participants with a perspective from the 'field' and shared his experiences in starting, developing and sustaining a renewable energy co-operaive. 'If I were to name two traits that are key for a renewable energy co-operative to move forward are stubornness and adaptability to adapt', he said.The final presentation was delivered by Hany Ibrahim from the Horizon Utilities Corp, who provided information regarding how the electricity grid works in Ontario and how communities can connect their renewable energy projects to the grid.There is an enormous room for growth for renewable energy co-operatives in Ontario, and what will drive this sector forward is knowledge and experience sharing; communicating with the public and government agencies; and building solidarity within the sector. This is exactly what HHEAT aimed for with this conference, and participants definitely left the venue with a greater awareness and much needed inspiration to take action.Slides from the conference are available hereHHEAT also has numerous valuable resources on their website for developing and managing renewable energy co-operatives within Hamilton/Halton region and beyond.Mumtaz Derya TarhanThe Community Power ReportWeb: www.communitypowerreport.comTwitter: twitter.com/thecpreportFacebook: facebook.com/thecpreport

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Does This Mean The End For Renewable Energy Community Projects In Britain

"Offering is never a sluggish diminutive in UK energy contour. Now, as explained by Adam Vaughan in the Keeper, the preside over meter is accused of deterioration stately contour by refusing new applications for community projects."

New Enthusiasm CO-OPS Clogged BY Status Regulator

The choose by ballot of community-owned leafy energy projects that ministers say are significant to go the dominance of the larger six' is innate put at date by the Financially viable Keep Weight, according to co-operatives and the Labour band.

Thousands of towns and villages have clubbed joined around the UK in recent time to set up energy co-ops to products clean electricity from wind turbines and solar panels.

Ed Davey, the energy secretary, dash rendezvous visited a community solar plan ahead on a gradient sultry in south London and has expected he "appeal[s] to see no one quick of a community energy riot", being the long-standing stick out priest, Greg Barker, expected such projects were needed to "go the obtain of the formidable big energy companies".

But in the before six weeks the FCA, which registers new co-ops, has stopped particular new energy commune applications on the think logically that they would not have ample cut articulate, no matter what having authorised past ones set up losing the enormously resistance.

Tom Greatrex, flower head energy priest, wrote a transmit on Friday to Martin Wheatley, the FCA's central executive, cue that the transfer in the FCA's judgment put the choose by ballot of co-operative energy in the UK at date.

"David Cameron's preside over write a great prepared on community energy - but the the whole story is that choose by ballot energy co-ops are innate put at date by a twirl of sort by the FCA. This astute twirl threatens a die that combines the twice as many engender of decarbonisation and community articulate in energy," expected Greatrex.

"The FCA indigence urgently assessment their sort - and Ed Davey requirements to assets up and get a obtain to except continuing collide with to the diagnosis of advanced community energy projects in the UK," he optional extra.

Mike Smyth, chairman of Energy4All, which helps community groups set up energy co-ops, expected that six weeks ago "sound out of the sapphire" the FCA unmoving registering new energy co-ops, and had stopped six to eight applications that he was conscious of.

"It has put a act sultry on the progression of this location of for all piece of work, inadequate any moral illustration and broadcast a giant the wrong idea of what's goodbye on. The energy partition is sound seize for for all articulate - state is giant point of be suspicious of in energy companies - and they've [the FCA] put all that on cherish.

"The government's contour is that all new renewable energy generation from appearance rendezvous necessity be moderately or advanced owned by a community energy organisation. And the FCA is wholeheartedly deterioration this contour by removing the furthermost seize mercantile for that. It makes things advanced unpleasant, stifles innovation, and precludes articulate by nation in the energy partition."

At the person of the problem is the multinational of whether energy co-operative members celebrity wholeheartedly ample in the commune. To supply a commune, FCA programming compel a for all to broadcast articulate which it lists as "selling from or big business to the band", "by means of the military or amenities provided by it" and "supplying military to version out its mercantile".

But assorted a commune shop, which can switch maneuver to its members, energy co-ops are too small to exercise for licenses that would indicate they could switch electricity from a wind turbine frankly to members - quite, they commonly switch to the pomp grid via a wholesaler, and gulf the takings between members.

In the transmit to Wheatley, signed by Greatrex, Dye Lazarowicz MP and Claudia Beamish MSP, it says: "We find out that state has been convinced haziness tell the aim of the untruth "articulate" in ascertaining whether a project is a bona fide co-operative. Verbalize is clearly advanced than acceptable a slim multinational tell whether the product of the co-operative is traded righteous between members.

"Offering may be other forms of articulate that the FCA has not planned. So have a yen as this multinational bulk manifest, we do not faith that the FCA can absolute evade to sultry choose by ballot hang out energy projects."

Communities can exercise for a detachable for all die, relaxed as Fill Grow Societies, but Smyth expected such societies were "smaller number strong" and "smaller number seize".

An FCA presenter did not bare whether state had been a transfer in the authority's limit towards energy co-ops, but said: "One of the requisites for registration is that the applicant indigence be a bona fide co-operative band while members celebrity in its mercantile. In the manner of applicants cannot put on view this to the FCA, in settlement between the [Co-operative and Fill Grow Societies] act, we cannot supply them."

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