The Hub works with communities to develop renewable energy, and energy reduction, schemes across Oxfordshire. If you would like to see a community energy project in your community, but you don’t have the capacity, expertise or funds to do it yourselves, the Hub’s community energy service can help. For more information about the service contact Barbara Hammond at barbara.hammond@lowcarbonhub.org or take a look at … Read more…

The Hub works with communities to develop renewable energy, and energy reduction, schemes across Oxfordshire. If you would like to see a community energy project in your community, but you don’t have the capacity, expertise or funds to do it yourselves, the Hub’s community energy service can help. For more information about the service contact Barbara Hammond at barbara.hammond@lowcarbonhub.org or take a look at … Read more…

Over the past five years, a simple idea about the best way of promoting sustainable behaviour has taken root, and grown. The idea, that the best way to encourage people to adopt sustainable behaviours because it will save them money, is a flawed and potentially counter-productive strategy. In an experiment conducted at a petrol station in Holland, researchers found that … Read more…

In the UK, people are currently passive consumers when it comes to energy, at the mercy of wholesale gas price rises and large profit-making providers. There is a need to change the relationship between people and energy to one where communities own, control and benefit from their own renewable energy projects. Community-owned renewable energy has the potential to deliver significant … Read more…

The outcome of the 2b FiT consultation came out the 20th July with some positive outcomes for community energy schemes. Summary of the key points The changes will be implemented from 1 December 2012. An intermediate band for microhydro has been added for 100–500kWe schemes, with a tariff of 15.5p/kWh. There will be a degression mechanism for all technologies other … Read more…

The response from Government on the Phase 2a review of the solar PV FiT came out on 28th May. summary The response document sets out the Government’s decision on solar PV installations from the 1st August 2012. It confirms a number of key changes to the scheme: a reduction in tariffs for solar PV from 1st August 2012, see Ofgem … Read more…

Over the last few months the Low Carbon Hub has commissioned research to help our organisation develop a community energy strategy for Oxfordshire. We want to link current “thinking” to future “action” Did you know that there are 67 community groups in Oxfordshire actively pursuing low carbon projects? This is probably the densest coverage of local groups in the UK … Read more…

This has been a marathon effort, but we are now approaching the finishing line on giving feedback on all the Government FiT consultations. Last time we looked at the review for the solar PV FiT, this time we are looking at the FiT for all other renewable technologies. Crucially, we have included what we think should be done for communities … Read more…

I have now looked at the consultation documents and analysed the data for the county. The attached evidence document from Oxfordshire shows how many, and how high, the barriers are for real community involvement in the Feed-in Tariff scheme. The Hub response to both consultations is to suggest that, given the evidence of the FiT register so far, there is a … Read more…

With on-going consultations and reviews on the Feed-in Tariffs, the current situation is now quite complex. We thought it would be useful to summarise the latest position so that you know where you stand vis-à-vis potential community renewable projects. The Government published three documents on Thursday 9th February 2012: The Government Response to the Consultation on the Phase 1 Review … Read more…