Case Study: Gower Power
Gower Regeneration Ltd, a community benefit society, became the first community-owned solar farm in Wales in 2017. The six acre solar farm attracted 415 investors purchasing over £900,000 worth of shares, seeing the project win the year’s Community Renewable Energy Project Award for being“The most commendable sustainable electricity generation project undertaken by a community group across Wales and England”.
With the addition of a Tesla battery, secured with funding through the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government, the farm will soon be able to store and distribute green electricity. Only 300 local households or businesses can be signed up for the energy supply, via the Gower Power website. Bristol Energy handle the technicalities of switching, billing and account management, enabling customers to buy clean power from Gower. The deal promises 100% clean, renewable energy. Electricity produced by Gower Regeneration will stored and fed onto the local grid when needed, and if the demand from its customers is too great, top-ups from other 100% clean, renewable sources will keep the power flowing. Gower Power Co-op CIC, and the project companies it develops, are concerned with keeping money local; encouraging local people to buy local produce and support local businesses. A survey they conducted a year ago confirmed that people would prefer to stop cash leaking out of the local economy in bill payments to distant energy companies whose profits don’t benefit the local community. The opportunity to buy clean, green locally produced electricity is set to be popular and, as a community benefit society, Gower Regeneration has to spend all its surplus on local community projects. For more information on Gower Power and its projects, go to www.gowerpower.coop |