News

by Zoom

Please put the date in your diary.  We would welcome more people on the STCE board, we have much to do and many hands make light work. If you would consider joining the board, please contact Howard as above.  The AGM papers & zoom link will be sent out nearer the time.

All the STCE investor members should receive an email from Sharenergy requesting their bank details so we can process our first interest payment.  If you’re a investor member and you’ve had the email please respond asap, if you haven’t had it please check your spam folder.

Our Bishop’s Castle wind turbine application is now live on Shropshire Council’s portal.  The turbine is an essential part of the Bishop’s Castle heat & wind project, each unit of energy out of the wind will be turned into two or three units of heat replacing oil boilers! This is one of the first new wind turbine applications in England since the planning guidance was changed, and it may well be the first.  Messages of support are most welcome.. see https:/pa.shropshire.gov/online-applications  ref 25/00177/FUL.  The consultation runs to Feb 21st.

 

We’re holding a second litter pick session along with some hedgerow maintenance work on Sat Nov 30th.  SY13 2HA, (just off A41 south of Prees Heath roundabout).  Please join us and hear more about our plans for the solar farm and other projects.

If you’re interested in joining us please email  info@stcenergy.org.uk so we can get a feel for numbers, thankyou. We hope to have lunch together afterwards.

The rest of our November newsletter is here https://stcenergy.org.uk/newsletter/

A Huge Boost for Community Energy – Are We Ready?

The new Government has promised ‘the biggest expansion in Community Energy in British history’.  GB Energy is poised to offer finance to Local Authorities and low interest loans to community-based energy schemes.  This is very exciting, but the question is – are we ready for this?  STCE is in a strong position with the ownership of Twemlows and the income it generates, at our last AGM we had a good turnout with 16 people and we had 12 attend our litter pick in July.  However, the five existing Directors are fully engaged keeping the society going, including managing Twemlows and the grant funds for the Bishop’s Castle project plus helping to run Community Energy Together.  We could really do with some added input to take advantage of new opportunities arising, please fill in our short survey here.. here

ps our full Sept 24 newsletter is available here

We have 20 bird boxes ready for fitting at Twemlows as part of the  biodiversity programme being developed by Mark Latham.  Thanks to Telford Mens Shed for their help with this project.

We are organising a site litter pick at Twemlows on 28th July in partnership with Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth.

Meet at the site, SY13 2HA (just off A41 south of Prees heath roundabout) at 11am, bring good gloves if you have them, we’ll be providing litter pickers, some gloves and bags. Bring a flask and lunch.

After litter picking STCE directors will explain how the site and the society work and what plans we have for improving biodiversity on the site. We look forward to seeing you there.

Following a successful Community Energy Fund (CEF) application, STCE are pleased to be able to continue with the development work for the Bishop’s Castle Heat and Wind project.

This is the press release:

“The Bishop’s Castle Wind Turbine-powered Community Heat project has been awarded a substantial grant to carry out further studies.  The work will include Ecology and Technical studies, and obtaining ’expressions of interest’ from the Town’s householders, organisations and businesses –  including the Community College and SpArC, who wish to be connected to the Heat Network.
The project will be managed by Dave Green of Sharenergy who said “this is a fantastic step forward for this exciting ground-breaking project which has gathered substantial local support”.  He added that “the £100,000 grant has been awarded to Shropshire and Telford Community Energy in partnership with Light Foot Enterprises, the environmental charity based in Bishop’s Castle.  The money comes from the Government’s Community Energy Fund, run locally by the Midlands Net Zero Hub.”
The project recently featured on Channel 4’s ‘The Great Climate Fight’.  Since that programme aired Shropshire Council has given the go ahead for a planning application to be made for the Wind Turbine.  It is hoped that this planning application can be submitted later this year on completion of the studies.
Mike Watkins, Light Foot’s local co-ordinator, added, “there’s a mountain of detailed work to be done on this complex project which requires the involvement of a wide range of experts.  The work is planned to be completed by the end of this year, and our first step will then be to present it to the Bishop’s Castle community before we submit a planning application for the Wind Turbine”.”

For more details go to BC Heat Network – Lightfoot Enterprise

Light Foot e-mail:  climateaction@lightfootenterprises.org.uk

Facebook

@bcclimateaction

 

STCE are delighted to announce completion of the purchase of Twemlows solar farm, bringing it  into community ownership. We would like to thank all of you that invested in our share offer to realise this long held ambition.

In 2023, Shropshire and Telford Community Energy (STCE) raised £294k in share capital to bring Twemlows solar farm into community ownership, as part of a portfolio called Community Energy Together.

UK solar farms with a collective capacity of 36MWp have been transferred into community ownership, increasing England and Wales’s community solar capacity by one fifth, collectively generating enough energy to power almost 13,000 homes.

This is expected provide over £20m in forecast community benefit funding from surplus revenues, which will be used to support local programmes addressing important issues such as homelessness, food and fuel poverty, education and climate action while supporting the UK’s transition to net zero.

The other groups are Gower Power, Kent Community Energy, Wight Community Energy and Yealm Community Energy.

The handover is the culmination of a process by which the groups have taken ownership of solar assets in their community.

The deal has been facilitated by Community Owned Renewable Energy (CORE), a partnership between the UK’s leading social impact investor Big Society Capital and Power to Change an independent trust that shapes the conditions for community business to thrive.

Designed and managed by the UK’s leading environmental impact investment advisor and fund manager, Finance Earth, the closure of the fund marks the successful realisation of its initial purpose of facilitating community ownership of renewable assets and creating funding streams for wider social change.

The partners see community ownership as a vital part of the UK’s journey to Net Zero, with clean energy sources, energy security and funding opportunities to combat social issues all increasing from deals such as this.

Energy security has been a pressing political issue as volatility of gas prices and availability have seen record profits for energy companies and spiralling costs for consumers.

Community Energy Together chair, Leila Ferraby said: “Through the innovative creation of CORE and the successful completion of this transaction, Big Society Capital and Power to Change generated a once in lifetime opportunity for five communities in England and Wales to secure ownership of ground mounted solar farms that generate clean, green, renewable energy and deliver significant surplus funds over the assets’ lifetimes to a wide range of local community projects.”

Big Society Capital Investment Director, Joe Shamash added: “This transfer is testament to the potential that community energy has to help the UK reach its net zero targets in a way that benefits local communities throughout the country.

“We are so pleased to have helped communities take ownership of solar farms that deliver the multiple benefits of energy security, a cleaner planet and funding for local community projects.”

Sharenergy has supported STCE though the development of this project, and are managing the Twemlows share register.