HERTS COMMUNITY ENERGY NETWORK

Community Energy Network Meeting 03/07/18

Matthews Suite, Mclaurin Building, de Havilland Campus

University of 11.00 am – 1.00 pm

Notes

Present:

Candice Luper – City District Council John Ingleby - GUCE Chris Musk – Smallford Residents Ass David Thorogood – East Herts Council Terry McGivern – Community Works Tim Hayward-Smith – CDA Herts

1. Apologies: Georgia Wrighton, Ray Bomber, Jeff Lewis - Smallford Residents Ass, David Royle - Bishops Stortford Climate Group, Rowan Wallis – Low Carbon Workspaces, John Webb - TT /HertsWOW/UKWIN

Information sharing and discussion:

2. Terry McGivern – Eastern New Energy. Terry gave an update on progress towards confirmation of the Bid. Expectation of this in early October with a possibility of delivery contracts signed by January. Terry referred to Cornwall New Energy which has been operational for 18 months and he is also working on bids in other regions such as Thames Valley and Sheffield. Our lead agency is now University of East London (UEL). The aim is to deliver support to SMEs to reduce carbon emissions and encourage and support local renewable energy systems and networks. ENE is the biggest and most complex project with a total value of £10.5m 50% of this will be ERDF grant. It is covering 3 LEPs (Herts, New Anglia and GCGP) and comprises 20 delivery partners including East Herts Council, WelHat Council, University of Hertfordshire and CDA Herts. Once underway Terry will establish communications networks and there will opportunity to learn from and share with the other projects once underway.

3. David Thorogood - Herts Sustainability Conference. EHC has been working on a small Hydro scheme for a number of years in aimed at powering the Theatre but Environment Agency have been very difficult wanting fish and eel passes. Once running it should provide up to 50% of the Theatre energy needs. It is expected to pay for itself by 11 years.

EHC supports Electric car chargers and Councillors want more but at the moment there are only 6 off street.

4. Chris Musk Smallford – Referred to a Smallford Greenhouse project which aims to produce C02 for plant growth but with a large surplus of unused energy.

Community Energy Network Meeting Notes 24.01.18 HERTS COMMUNITY ENERGY NETWORK 5. John Ingleby Transition Kings – GUCE has undertaken a comprehensive risk analysis based on the expectation that the Rudolph Steiner School may close although there is an expectation that their business plan will stay in place. They have considered the efficiency of Anaerobic Digestors but it is hard to get the balance right between organice and heat output.

6. Tim Hayward-Smith CDA Herts – Tim is looking to recruit a volunteer possibly a recent UH graduate to provide support for the Network, undertake some research and develop an information resource for the website. Working with Rowan from Low Carbon Workspaces has led to a good number of Village Halls opting for low energy solutions thanks to grants.

7. Next Meeting – Tuesday 9 October 10.30 for a 11.00 am start in the MacLaurin Building UH.

Community Energy Network Meeting Notes 24.01.18