Community Energy Newham (CEN), Newham’s only community energy co-operative, is working in partnership with social enterprise Repowering London to raise £120,000 by 25 April to bring solar panels installed at three Newham libraries into community ownership.
Investors can commit a minimum of £100 - reduced to £50 for Newham residents - to become shareholders and members of the CEN cooperative, earning a 3% annual return. Residents that aren’t able to invest financially can volunteer their time and participate in local decision making on energy production. You can find out more and sign up, here.
“We want to create a different model for energy services that benefit people, rather than big companies,” said Ruth Chiat, the Newham communities project manager with Repowering London. “Our aspiration is to create a larger scale model where we're providing renewable and affordable energy, but also the skills, networks and profits that come back into the community.
Chiat said the libraries – in Stratford, Beckton and East Ham - were already paying less for their energy as a result of the solar panel installations and CEN is working with several other boroughs including Barnet, Hammersmith and Fulham to develop similar models for community energy.
Mike, a resident of Newham for more than 30 years, was present at the share offer launch earlier this month. He said the offer: “brings within reach of ordinary people who are interested in green initiatives but don’t have lots of money to spend on huge solar panels.”
Stratford Community Library is the latest to have solar panels installed on the roof, following previous installations at Beckton Globe and East Ham libraries.
CEN is already planning additional installations in the borough, focusing on schools and leisure centres, that will have the potential to generate enough solar energy to power about 620 London homes.
Over its lifetime the project will contribute an estimated £25,100 to a Community Fund that will support local projects chosen by the co-op members.
Newham is one of the poorest boroughs in London, with one in six households experiencing fuel poverty. The borough is also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly flooding and extreme heat, which are expected to increase.
Maria Beatty, another Newham resident, said the local leisure centre was forced to temporarily close last summer because of extreme heat.
“[The heat] has gotten unbearable,” she said. “I came here to learn more about these solar panels because I think it’s just such a brilliant idea.”
Dave Fuller, the communities and business development director at Repowering London, said that Newham is about more than its negative statistics.
“What’s exciting about working in Newham is that those numbers don’t tell the real story,” he said. “The real story is about community and going from an externally negative view to being able to create change that is replicable and scalable.
“We want Newham to be a real pioneer of community energy and for other councils and people across the UK to say, ‘I want what Newham’s got’.”
Sign up for your shares here: www.repowering.org.uk/community-energy-newham-share-offer/