Tavistock & District Local Economic Blueprint

The Tavistock and District Local Economic Blueprint (LEB) was launched at the Tavistock Chamber Business Show on Friday, 6th November 2015.

Its aim was to provide a supported three year plan to help strengthen our local communities, stimulate jobs and enterprise and enable increasing proportions of our needs to be fulfilled through local supply chains.

The LEB covers local food, local energy generation and domestic retrofit.

The Blueprint looks at how far the £120m spent each year in and around Tavistock on food and energy benefits the local economy, and what opportunities there are for these sectors to deliver more for our future health, wellbeing, resilience and prosperity.

The Blueprint reports and other information can be found here on the Transition Tavistock website; or you can download the Energy report here.

We believe these reports and the information and recommended actions within them could provide valuable insight as we look to Build Back Better.

About the LEB area included

The report focuses on the Southern Link parishes around, and including, Tavistock, but our conclusions and recommendations have wider relevance across West Devon and beyond.

Population: 32,200 (PPSA estimates, West Devon 2012) Households: 13,481 (2011 Census Data)

Tamar Energy Fest 2018 – 24th November

Our 2018 Tamar Energy Fest was on Saturday, 24th November in Tavistock Town Hall. Thanks to all our exhibitors an visitors for helping make it a great event.

We talked about The Power in Your Hands to save energy, reduce bills, generate your own and help the planet, highlighting changes in the industry towards ‘smart’ … opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of homes, business and travel … as well as local generation and storage.

We showcased our progress with our OpenLV pilot including our work with St. Peter’s School and the Eco Club, our Energy Advice Service, our Bedford Cottages work and our Community Solar installations.

We were also delighted to be joined by Precious Plastic Tavistock, our local Community Growers and the local Eco Church community.

Our programme of talks ran through the day. You can download a programme here.

Our trusted exhibitors on the day included Mike Wye Natural Building Products, New Generation Energy, Utility Warehouse, ZLC Energy, and The Fell Partnership … more below …

Adding to the day’s fun and enjoyment were Red Squirrel Tree Care’s free woodland themed photo booth and our Energy Cafe with delicious locally sourced cakes … and warm and hot drinks … PLUS our Energy themed quiz for all the family.

Energy Fest Talks

The Talks were all held in the Rundle Room.

Our Exhibitors

We’d like to thank our Exhibitors for giving up their Saturday to be with us … including

The Power in Your Hands – our OpenLV project

10Nov18th March 2019

By Kate Royston

The Power in Your Hands is a local community energy initiative running in the Greenlands area of Tavistock for local householders and St. Peter’s School.

Want to reduce your energy costs?
Find out more about energy use locally?
Where our local energy comes from?
How bills could reduce in the future?

If YES, get in touch … Call 0800-233-5414, email hello@tamarenergycommunity.com or let us know your details via our Contact Form.

If you’d like to take part in our Householders Survey here’s a link to it online. It will take between 5 and 10 minutes to complete.

Find out more here.

Tamar Energy Fest 2019

17Sep12th October 2019

By Kate Royston

This year’s Tamar Energy Fest will be held on Saturday, 23rd November in Butcher’s Hall, Tavistock. We’ll be open from 10:00 to 15:00 and look forward to seeing you there.

If you’d like to exhibit at the event and haven’t received an invitation, or would like to get involved in some other ways, please drop us an email (hello@tamarenergycommunity.com)

This year’s Energy Fest is focusing on Powering Change – we invite you to drop-in and find out something that can make a difference to your bills and sustainability at home /work and for the planet. It’s also about localising energy and the power of local people and communities to take more control over their energy use.

We’ll be showcasing our progress with our innovative OpenLV pilot, our Warm & Well Energy Advice Service, Warmer Bedford Cottages and our Community Solar installations.

Do come and join us … it’ll be a fun and interesting day for exhibitors, visitors and volunteers alike.

Community Solar Generation Update

30Aug19th September 2020

By Kate Royston

Here’s a graph showing generation of energy from the sun at our six community solar sites in August 2020

Here’s a graph of our six community solar sites and their generation between June and November 2019.

Key:

MKP – Mount Kelly Prep, Tavistock
MKS – Mount Kelly Senior, Tavistock
CJS – Carbeile Junior School, Torpoint
PLS – Plymstock School, Plymstock
AGM – Abbey Garden Machinery, Tavistock
TSC – Tesco Stores, Callington

The Power in Your Hands – OpenLV

We’re excited to be one of seven community energy pilots running in the UK, as part of a ground breaking trial, to understand how the changes in the way that energy is generated and used in the future will impact you.

We believe there could be opportunities for you to have more influence on how you use, and what you pay for, energy in the future. That’s why we’ve called our project ‘The Power in Your Hands’.

As part of this trial we are accessing and analysing open data from the low voltage substation in Meavy Way in Greenlands. We’re working with local residents and St. Peter’s School to understand what this data means about current and future energy use and behaviour.

Access to open data on local electricity networks should make energy more democratic and benefit you. We’ll be working to see how.

How you can get involved

Take part in our Householders Survey here’s a link to it online. It will take between 5 and 10 minutes to complete.

Check out out the peaks and dips in energy demand and other data we’re producing HERE, and let us know what you think. We’re also developing an App you can use from your smart phone.

Sign up to receive email updates on progress and local events

We’d also like to hear from you if you are generating and/or storing your own energy or have an electric vehicle.

Get in touch … call 0800-233-5414, email hello@tamarenergycommunity.com or let us know your details via our Contact Form.

Newsletters

You can download The Power in Your Hands newsletters here:

August 2019 Power in your hands Newsletter Aug 19 (download pdf) View in web browser

May 2019 The Power in Your Hands May 19 newsletter (download pdf)

OpenLV

The Power in Your Hands is part of a project called OpenLV which is making local electricity data openly available for the first time ever. The Greenlands area of Tavistock is one of seven neighbourhoods involved across the S.West, S.Wales and the Midlands.

Your substation is where electricity is turned from a high voltage dangerous current to the low voltage electricity you use at home. Thanks to a piece of kit called an LV-CAP™ we will be able to learn more about electricity use in the Greenlands neighbourhood and work together to change our energy use habits, maybe even saving on our bills as we go!

Knowing about our local electricity use means we can try to avoid overloading our substation and in the future, it might even be possible to have electricity tariffs which offer cheaper energy at off-peak times of day.

This video will explain more about OpenLV.

Energy use and Time of Day Tariffs

Going forward, energy companies will be looking at introducing tariffs with different rates at different times of the day.

Carbon Intensity of our energy

You can track the carbon intensity of our energy networks here:
https://carbontracer.westernpower.co.uk/ (Local region)
https://carbonintensity.org.uk (National and S. West England)

Devon Community Energy Impact Report 2018

06May6th May 2018

By Kate Royston

Great to be included in the Regen Communities & Devon County Council report highlighting the importance of Community Energy in Devon.

Devon Community Energy organisations have installed 12.3 MW of Renewable Energy through 62 projects in Devon. One of the many positive impacts highlighted in the report available here.

Check out Tamar Energy Community (TEC) Community Solar here.

Look at the huge CO₂ equivalent savings made by Devon Community Energy organisations from generating green energy through renewables!

Through energy advice, energy efficiency measures and tariff switching, Devon Community Energy organisations are tackling fuel poverty.

Partnerships and connections with other organisations enable Devon Community Energy to go further so that more people benefit.

The number of Devon Community Energy organisations has increased to 23. Collectively they employ 33 FTE staff have 297 volunteers and 3457 members.

Devon Community Energy organisations collectively have raised £14.1 million to fund their Community Energy projects.

Here are the key success factors highlighted by Devon Community Energy organisations.

A lack of viable business models due to reduction in FIT was the most common reasons causing some Devon Community Energy projects to stall.

Devon has more Community Energy organisations than anywhere else in England … find out why here …

Community Energy in Devon has created 33 FTE, jobs, raised £14 million & generated enough clean green energy for 3423 homes in 2017.

Power the Night with Sunlight in Golberdon

10Sep

By Kate Royston

Vote here now to help make it happen.

South Hill parish is just 17 minutes from Tavistock.

The Parish Hall in Golberdon village is the heart of all activities and needs money spent on it to keep it going. We aim to “Power the Night with Sunlight” … store the energy generated from the solar panels installed on the hall roof 2 years ago so it can be used when the sun isn’t shining. This will help with running costs and ensure the hall is sustainable for the future.

We have successfully been shortlisted for a M&S Energy grant and now need VOTES, LOTS of VOTES to win the funding. We’re asking all our neighbours and friends and their friends to vote starting on Sept 4^th through to Oct 20^th 2017.

We hope with all our efforts and your votes we can make a real difference in our community.
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR VOTING. We Need Friends.
Vote on-line visit www.south-hill.co.uk or http://www.mandsenergyfund.com/ .

South Hill FaceBook Page South Hill Parish Web Site

Unlocking the Power of Community – Energy Fair 2016

01Oct12th October 2016

By tecsetup

Unlocking the Power of Community is the theme for our annual Energy Fair on Saturday October 15^thtaking place in Local Matters community space in Elbow Lane, Tavistock, from 10:00 until 15:00.

There’s lots of reasons to come along …

… We’re offering free tea and cake

… Are you concerned about keeping your home warm, about your bills, saving energy? Come and talk to our local volunteers about the small things you can do that can make a difference.

… Find out more about the Community Fundraiser we’ve started with the Utility Warehouse. They offer excellent service and competitive tariffs to suit some households.

… Living in an older home that’s difficult to keep warm? Building a new home? Come and find out more about what others locally have done and how you can get started or be helped along the way.

… Come and talk to Mike Wye –natural building products, The Fell Partnership –energy efficient building, GreenHus – external wall insulation.

… Living in a Bedford Cottage? We’re starting a project to look at how we can keep these homes warmer without spending lots of money. Come and find out more.

… Interested in generating your own power or in renewable heat? Things are changing fast. Come and talk to three of the leading local experts: New Generation Energy, Sungift Energy and ZLC Energy.

… See our Community Solar installations generating! We’re proud of our achievement in getting solar panels owned by the community to support five sites across the area. Our host sites (including Mount Kelly and Abbey Garden Machinery) can reduce their energy costs and be renewable generators. Any surplus is used to support fuel poverty and energy advice locally.

… Talk to Roots to Transition and the team from Tasty Tavy working to transform Tavistock … and pick up some free seeds

… Check up on our Totally Locally Tavistock display

.. And see what we’re doing with Local Matters community space … supporting Transition Tavistock, Tamar Energy Community, Climate Matters and more … a space for you …

If you’d like to help us promote the event you can download a poster here

Want more information? Call or email us at hello@tamarenergycommunity.com or on 07969 569 444.

Community Solar

Installing at Mount Kelly Prep

We’re celebrating the fifth year of our Community Solar investment and generation across the Tamar Valley with an additional 100kW installation. It’s on the roof of the 50m pool of the Mount Kelly Swim Centre.

Our Host Sites

Working with local organisations we’ve installed 425kW of community owned solar PV across six sites.

Click here to see a graph of the latest generation.

Why is Community Solar Important

The installations are owned by our community, and are managed and maintained by Tamar Energy Community (TEC).

Community solar brings many benefits to our community and local economy:

Our host sites benefit from reduced cost electricity. As community generators a proportion of their energy needs are generated locally from renewable sources which is good for our planet, and they can promote the benefits of renewables to their stakeholders. We can also work with them to reduce their energy usage in other ways as well.
Our local community has the opportunity to invest in, and co-own the installation by purchasing community shares, and receive a fair rate of return.
The money which would otherwise have been paid by host sites (for their solar energy) to national and international energy companies is paid to TEC, a community benefit society, and retained in the local economy.
Any surplus from our community solar goes into our Community Energy Fund and is used to alleviate fuel poverty across the area.

Kate Royston, TEC’s Community Solar project developer: “We’re immensely proud that we’ve been able to add to our first community generation projects! It’s been hard work but very worthwhile and we look forward to developing more projects in the future”.

Funding the projects

Our initial portfolio was funded by our local Community Solar Seed Loan investors who loaned us £118,000 to help make sure everything was installed in time and Cornwall’s Low Carbon Society who loaned us £285,000.

Last autumn we launched our Community Solar Share offer to enable TEC to pay back the Low Carbon Society Loan and our Community Solar Seed Loan investors … and ensure wider community ownership. £322,000 was raised in a few weeks, and we’re grateful to our new community investors. You can find out more about our first community solar share offer here.

Making our Community Solar possible

Our Community Solar projects would not have been possible without the help of our valued installers Sungift Energy and ZLC Energy, our legal support from Bright Solicitors, the work of our volunteers, grants from the Devon County Council and Regen Accelerator Programme and importantly our Rural Community Energy Fund Grant of £20,000. This enabled us to work with our consultants from Communities for Renewables and Plymouth Energy Community; and of course our investors.

If you’d like to get more involved with our community solar please email us at hello@tamarenergycommunity.com or call on 07969 569 444.