Our Vision.

As an organisation who could see growth and opportunity, through climate change issues, we had produced a community development plan for discussion. The document, set out ideas for job creation through regeneration, regeneration of our people, our places and our spirit. The plan focused on community energy and enterprise as a means of repurposing our 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 saw 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 because of running costs to benefit from generating their own electricity.

We outlined ideas to develop new community services sustained through a community energy fund. We showed how large-scale ground-mounted solar farms cold produce large amounts of electricity that would be sold. At that time for a favourable rate via the feed in tariff. The call offering funding for community energy projects was linked directly to the stretching decarbonisation targets set by Environment Minister Lesley Griffiths.

Meeting Targets.

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.

For the last two years we have been working (voluntarily) to bring that community energy plan into practise. The project is due to go live in 2020.

This WEFO funded project 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 ground/air source thermal heating solutions for our buildings and residents. A community able to generate, store and release their own energy to meet its own needs is also 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, building a cohesive community and 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. That is a fantastic progress we appreciate that. Vast amounts of energy produced in our village will be via renewable sources.

There are many other practical ways to address climate change and reduce our carbon footprint. What the energy fund doesn’t do is enable us to address carbon reduction generally. Our regeneration plan to become an exemplary zero carbon village means we have to address climate change through more that just generating energy. We have a range of project plans to reduce carbon by growing our own foods, building our own zero bill homes, providing alternative transport options that stop 10 coaches a day coming through the heart of our village.

The past five years have enabled us to understand the needs of our community and cater for the changes age, a decreasing population and local service decline bring to an already deprived area. We see opportunity and this funding will help us put those opportunities into practise, not only in our villages but replicated in neighbouring villages and communities all over Wales.