Great Coxwell Community Energy Project - Bulletin 4

Welcome to Bulletin 4 from the Energy Project team. Again a big thank you to everyone who contacted us to show your support, completed the interest form on our Website or spoke to one of us on the doorstep. We are pleased to say that we have reached our target of 60% of our households expressing an interest by the end of October -  in fact we are now well past this with 72 addresses. Apologies if we haven't had a chance to speak with you and if anyone else would like to contact us or visit the website please see the links below. We welcome any last minute supporters - everyone helps our grant application.
 
Last week, the Heat and Buildings Strategy gave more details of the government's 10 Point Green Industrial Revolution plans. Two points of particular relevance to our project were their promise of £340m for the growth of heat networks like ours, and their 'aspiration' to end new gas boilers by 2035. To encourage this change they provide outline proposals, once the current energy price ‘spike’ has subsided, to shift environmental levies through the next decade so that gas will become yet more expensive but electricity less so. 
 
Over the last weeks Greener Great Coxwell Heating Network have:

• Received and reviewed three bids in response to our Invitation To Tender for the Consultancy work on the feasibility study. 
• Completed our draft funding application (to the Greater South West Energy Hub - for Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) ,  Stage 1 funding) which will be submitted before the Friday 5th deadline. Our application has been reviewed and described as 'very strong'. So we are optimistic.

• Completed our selection process and eventually appointed Locogen (https://locogen.com) as our consultants to carry out the feasibility study should we be successful in our grant application.  Locogen has experience in guiding 12 clients through the RCEF Stage 1 Process. We were impressed by their engagement with our village and project profile, their wide experience and their professional yet personal touch. Also, Locogen has much experience of the full cycle of implementing, investing in and managing Local Energy Networks. We feel Locogen will be a good fit with our village and will be able to help with all aspects of our project.

Locogen say:

We’re an internationally recognised and award-winning expert in facilitating the development, construction and operation of renewable energy systems for our partners and clients.

• We have now submitted our application to the Financial Conduct Authority to form a Community Benefit Company. This will give us the legal framework we need to carry out the first part of the project and manage the finances should we be successful in winning the grant. 

               Cosy Homes presentation for Greener Gt Coxwell    Thursday, 18 November⋅7:30 – 9:00pm
 
Whether we are successful with the Heat Network project or not, one of the quickest and most cost effective means of reducing our energy use and thereby saving money and emissions, is by improving home insulation. For some time Greener Great Coxwell have been working with an Oxford Low Carbon Hub home insulation project called Cost Homes (https://cosyhomesoxfordshire.org/). This project provides a single source of help and advice for anyone considering retrofitting home insulation. Cosy Homes offers a consultancy service that will survey your home and provide a comprehensive assessment of your current insulation status and a costed plan of how it could be improved. They have their own contractors who could be engaged to carry out any retrofit work and if you wish they could manage the whole project. 
 
Greener Great Coxwell have arranged a Zoom meeting on 18th November from 7:30 to 9:00, when the Cosy Homes Manager, Geordie Stewart, will give a Presentation of the program and be available to answer questions. Details are: 
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86346161016?pwd=Q2ZPWVI2M25nVFVremt6YlZyNkNjZz09

Meeting ID: 863 4616 1016
Passcode: 569786
 
We will send these details out again nearer the time.

Finally: 
If you are at all interested in the Energy Project but have not yet expressed an interest and would like to, please contact us to let us know - with no obligation or commitment - either : 
e-mail:  energy@greenergreatcoxwell.com
visit :     https://greenergreatcoxwell.com/contact-page/   
To find out more or to send us specific queries visit www.greenergreatcoxwell.com or e-mail energy@greenergreatcoxwell.com.
For general information from Greener Great Coxwell please mail : info@greenergreatcoxwell.com.
You can find these Bulletins on the website at : https://greenergreatcoxwell.com/great-coxwell-community-energy-bulletins/
Thank you, 
Annabelle Zinovieff, Ken Hirons, Ian Mason, Karen Mason, Margaret O’Donohoe, Richard Benwell, Sophie Stainer, Jacqui Russell
 
--
Ken Hirons (Dr.) 
Mob: +44 (0)7771 504211