Funded Energy Redress Projects

The project aims to deliver 9MW of wind energy generation on Mynydd y Gwrhyd in South Wales. The project is based in the former coal mining community of the Upper Amman and Swansea Valley, and all surplus from the turbines will go into their fuel poverty energy advice service, which is currently grant funding, to make the service sustainable for the future. 

As part of the project, they will undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) leading to a planning application, pay a deposit to secure the grid, and finalise Options and Leases with their landowners. 

They will also aim to keep the site open as an education resource.

Building on the delivery of a previously funded project, Rotherham Federation aim to provide energy saving advice to 2,000 vulnerable households, identified through local intelligence and community referrals.

Advice will be delivered through online support, zoom/phone calls, and community training and events. Participants will use their improved knowledge to change their energy habits, switch suppliers, stay warmer, access help with fuel bills, reduce consumption and improve their energy efficiency. 

Collaborating with local service partners will enable households to access holistic support to resolve related issues (e.g. debt, credit unions, fire safety). Alongside referrals for energy support home visits, where required.

Energy advisors will provide training to local voluntary and community sector organisations to improve their energy knowledge and skills, to effectively deliver volunteer-run energy awareness activities to vulnerable households. 

The project aims to support vulnerable households, to reduce bills, maximise income, tackle fuel poverty and financial hardship for the longer term. They will undertake a two-pronged approach; offering energy advice and information at events, alongside energy casework.

Advice and information will range from energy bills and tariffs, fuel options and switching methods, to smart meters and net zero. To ensure behavioural change and empower households to reduce their energy consumption.

Casework will also be provided for more complex energy issues including, income maximisation, financial assistance towards energy bills, fuel vouchers, and accessing energy efficiency grants and schemes.

They aim to provide in-person energy saving advice to 1,000 households in deprived neighbourhoods across East Birmingham, to support households with reduced fuel bills, improved health and warmer homes.

Advice will be delivered through drop-in sessions at local venues (Women’s Enterprise Centre at Norton Hall; and Jet Shop, Alum Rock Road), telephone advice, and home visits. They will take referrals through word of mouth and a new website with an online booking calendar. 

Many of these households lack fluency in written English, making it difficult for them to assert their rights as consumers of energy services. A large percentage of these families have household members with a variety of cold and damp related medical conditions, such as anxiety, depression, respiratory and circulatory conditions.  

The project aims to achieve measurable reductions in expenditure on fuel, and in greenhouse gas emissions, whilst also reducing the incidence of fuel poverty related stress and anxiety. 

This project will stimulate accessible retrofit, working across tenures to provide expert and timely advice and support to households and landlords with stretched budgets, supporting them along their journey from interest to install. 

They aim to advise over 500 owner occupiers, primarily those with budgets of between £10 - £10,000, providing technical surveys in home, over the phone advice and support at key touchpoints. They will also provide carbon reduction recommendations for social and private landlords’ housing stock, covering 2,100 homes. 

The project will take a customer-first approach, understanding that cost saving and comfort are key priorities for most. Advice will cover carbon saving measures where there is a viable pathway to install. DIY workshops will train householders in measures such as draught proofing, and carry out airtightness testing for air source heat pumps.

The project will focus on ‘getting retrofit done’, celebrating successes and using viable local solutions, using low-cost technologies, and signposting available funding streams. 

They will develop local property typologies to allow replicable results, and expand a directory of installers with proven results in the county. A local media campaign will drive interest in the project and challenge common misconceptions that are forming barriers to uptake. Community Advocates will be trained to provide support in their locality and work with their growing team of retrofit specialists, providing a legacy of planned installs to accelerate the decarbonisation of homes as we approach 2030.

The project aims to accelerate the deployment of community renewables in and around Plymouth. To achieve this they will:

1. Launch a citywide campaign to scale up local adoption of solar PV by offering trusted advice and fostering conversations with consumers, installers, and other key stakeholders. 

2. Bring forward an investment ready pipeline of solar projects in and around the city. 

The project will develop community solar assets to reduce carbon emissions and  provide long-term income for future PEC work to support vulnerable and fuel poor households. The potential assets will be on a variety of non- domestic sites across the city and will be brought to a point of investment readiness, with a viable financial case, and relevant permissions secured.

Alongside 17 sites that have already been identified by the organisation, they will also seek to map additional sites for potential development. This mapping will provide a longer term pipe-line of opportunity.

This project builds upon the ambitious energy support they currently deliver across Worcestershire; extending their reach across two adjoining counties with fuel poverty rates significantly higher than the national average.

The project will increase its work with any households who are vulnerable to the persistent cost of living squeeze and keeping warm; paying particular focus to those households that are reliant on off gas heating or where digital exclusion is most acutely felt. 

They will work collaboratively with households to lower their energy consumption, save money and change energy related behaviours thus improving health and wellbeing outcomes for people with pre-existing cold and damp related medical conditions. Households will receive support over the phone, in the home and through intensive engagement activity across community settings. 

The project will also continue the uptake of grant funded retrofit programmes and securing referrals to strategic delivery partners; enabling holistic solutions that extend beyond the immediate energy related need. Aiming to develop longer-term energy resilient households who exhibit greater energy knowledge and skills including awareness of the benefit of low carbon technologies.

The project will provide support to vulnerable energy consumers across Gateshead, delivered through accessible high-quality advice, information and guidance, practical support, and education and training.

Advice will be provided across multiple channels in multiple locations, tailored according to household vulnerability, need and/or complexity of the issues faced by each household. Delivered as both one-off advice, and casework for more complex cases. 

The project will also deliver a series of energy roadshows by visiting large venues and spaces within the community to provide light touch information and make people aware of their rights with suppliers. 

Working in partnership with 2 Way Tenancy Solutions CIC, they will provide intensive, in person support to the most vulnerable, preventing homelessness and enabling them to maintain their tenancies.  

Education and training on managing energy consumption, reducing costs and resolving common issues will be offered to groups, and third party organisations. Working with these organisations increases their knowledge of energy matters, empowering them to help their clients, cascading the knowledge, and supporting more consumers of Gateshead. 

The project aims to provide comprehensive energy advice and support to vulnerable households, that will improve household energy efficiency, reduce their energy costs, and enable them to stay warm at home.

As well as working closely with health and social care agencies, the project will be promoted through the 60+ Warm Spaces that have been established in the Borough, many of which are open all year round. 

Advice and support will be provided on: 

• maintaining a warm home through energy efficiency measures
• reducing energy costs and securing the most affordable supply
• resolution of problems with energy companies over bills or supply
• dealing with energy debts
• becoming a more confident energy consumer

The project will prioritise home visits and face to face appointments and will provide ongoing casework for complex energy problems.

OVESCO is developing the Ouse Valley Solar Farm (OVSF) a 17MW ground mounted solar project North of Lewes in East Sussex. The solar farm has planning permission, a land agreement and a grid connection offer. Funding from the scheme, will enable the project to meet the planning pre-conditions and other costs associated with preconstruction.

The solar farm is expected to generate an annual community benefit fund of £50,000, which would provide energy advice to the local community. A significant part of the project is expected to be community funded by local investors keeping the returns from their investment in the local community. The Biodiversity Net Gain assessment shows that the project will bring a 230% increase in biodiversity along with a saving of 6,800 tonnes of CO2 pa. 

The solar farm will add to local energy security, make a significant contribution to achieving the carbon reduction targets of the Lewes District, and the UK, as well as provide a long-term annual fund for the benefit of the community.