What do we want to do and why ?
Our community regeneration company H Factor Development was set up as a not for profit enterprise in 2016, specifically to bid for a Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) call for communities who had ideas and plans of how they could generate, use and sell their own community energy.

Our Plan.

Our plan is focused on community energy and enterprise as a means of regenerating derelict buildings and unused land. While climate change was surfacing as a global and local concern, rising costs of utilities and fuel poverty amongst our most vulnerable community groups was emerging as a local concern.

We see energy (and the income derived from it) as a solution to address fuel poverty and a solution for community clubs and buildings struggling to stay open. We outlined ideas to develop new community services sustained through a community energy fund.

One of the targets was that by 2019 at least 1 GW of energy in Wales would be locally owned. As a community organisation that gave us a direct link to the target and another advantage. The call meant we could put our ideas to generate a community income and move our villages towards a zero carbon living into goal practise.

We formalised our partnership with interested parties and applied direct. We were one of 8 from 48 projects selected to go forward.




Details.

The WEFO project is providing funding that enables the villages to install renewable technologies in local buildings, communal areas and residential homes.

We can supply energy generating solar, hydro, storage batteries and thermal heating solutions for our buildings and residents. A community able to generate, store and release their own energy to meet the needs of its community is able to set the price for that energy. Excess energy produced by homes, local schools, leisure facilities, social buildings, churches and residential homes form part of a virtual power supply produced for that community.
This enables the H Factor energy project to provide local people with a source of energy at 50% less than the current average unit cost of 14p per unit.
Providing reduced cost energy to residents and exporting excess energy creates a community fund that enables us to sustain and maintain our community assets.

The fund enables us to expand the development and design of additional projects that benefit our residents, build a cohesive community making the village an area people will want to live.
Over the next 21 years at least the renewables installed will produce 1,000,000 kwh hours of electricity which when sold at 7p a unit will generate an income of £700,00. A significant fund available to address a wide range of social issues that enhance the sustainability of our elders and our community in general.
By reducing energy costs for all residents, the AMMV Energy project provides an innovative, locally owned solution to eradicate fuel poverty, a significant growing social crisis. Vast amounts of energy produced in our village will be via renewable sources.


Our Partners.

To submit a range of housing, food growing and community led initiatives we have brought in various academics able to help.
• Cardiff University and SPECIF at Swansea for Support & Design of our
• Community Housing
• Wales Coop to consider share offers
• WEFO as funder for our energy
• WG / AM / Valleys Task Force – We want our project to be replicated.

BCT Invest Local Ynysowen is an invest local area. Two of our directors sit on the steering group and have been instrumental in producing community plans that include youth provision, youth training, skills for our future, alternative transports, growing projects including aquaponics and are recruiting a team of community champion to motivate the community into getting active. The champions include social prescribing officers trained to support residents with their well being.
 
MTCBC have worked with us to provide land options. We are currently providing questionnaires asking the community to suggest what they want to do to refurbish our park area donated by the miners welfare. Home growing is one of the most suggested projects along with building our own woodland café.

Save Box Batteries are match funding our energy project.

Our technical directors have worked with new technologies to develop a pool heating solution that combines solar thermal and solar PV with a heat pump reduces carbon by over 90%.
 It is these options we want to replicate across Wales.

Ynni Lleol Energy Local have supported our bids.

Sustainable Communities Wales have funding of up to 100k to refurb our community buildings.

Renew Wales have supported first stage projects.


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