Events

Join North East & Yorkshire Net-Zero Hub this February, join a free guided tour of innovative community-led local energy projects in Sheffield, which includes a low-carbon co-housing project and a commercial food business.

You’ll also have the opportunity to hear from a range of community energy experts on how they’re delivering low-carbon energy and retrofit projects across communities in Yorkshire and beyond.

Where: Collection from Sheffield City Centre

Please RSVP by registering here or emailing matthew.ahluwalia@ashden.org

Community Energy Seeing is Believing North East and Yorkshire is a programme funded by the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub and delivered by Community Energy England, Ashden and the Centre for Sustainable Energy. It is designed to share inspiring stories from people already doing great things in community energy through site visits, networking events and matchmaking, in order to support new connections and projects.

Why attend?

• Visit to Five Rivers Co-Housing: Site visit to a multi-generational cohousing initiative showcasing homes with solar panels, air source heat pumps and a range of retrofit measures supporting low-carbon living
• Learn how Sheffield caterers Lembas are cutting carbon: a food warehouse that has installed rooftop solar to significantly cut on-site energy bills, supported by Sheffield Renewables
• Networking and additional presentations with fellow community energy practitioners and experts, exploring practical lessons from community-led housing and commercial solar projects

This Valentine’s season, let’s fall (back) in love with community wind!

The Clean Power Mission is one of this government’s flagship policies to make progress on Net Zero and climate action, but it’s becoming clear that a crucial part of the puzzle is missing: onshore wind in England.

The first community energy projects were wind, developed by people who poured their love into turbines to generate clean power and keep profits local. However, many were left disappointed by restrictive policies and planning barriers. With renewed governmental support for community wind, it’s time to rekindle the romance!

We will be hearing from:

• Dave Green, Development Manager at Sharenergy
• Stefan Haselwimmer, creator of VoteWind.org
• Als Parker, Director at Greenstoker
• Louise Daniels, Head of External Affairs at Thrive Renewables

Join us to further understand the potential of community-owned onshore wind to deliver clean energy, local resilience, and community benefit. At a time when we need practical climate solutions more than ever, this event brings together people who are already making community wind happen and invites you to be part of what comes next.

We will cover:

• Why is wind needed? And how much do we need?
• New tools to map and visualise wind power potential (get on the apps to find and match with your windiest sites!).
• What size wind projects work?
• Repowering: give an existing wind site a glow-up.
• The launch of our Community Wind Working Group, a new space for people interested in developing, supporting, or learning more about community-owned wind projects.

Let’s fall head over heels for wind; it’s a match made in megawatts!

The Energy Learning Network:
This event is brought to you by the Energy learning Network, a UK-wide collaboration to boost the skills, confidence, and capability of the community energy sector. It is a partnership between CEE, Ashden, Centre for Sustainable Energy, Community Energy Scotland, Community Energy Wales, and Northern Ireland’s Action Renewables. The programme is made possible thanks to four years of funding totalling £1.5 million from the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund.

Join Join North East & Yorkshire Net-Zero Hub this February for a free, guided Seeing is Believing tour showcasing innovative, publicly led low-carbon energy projects across Teesside. You’ll explore how local authorities are delivering practical, scalable renewable and heat solutions – and hear directly from those making them happen.

With 2025 representing a record year for renewable installations and government’s much anticipated Local Power Plan to be released imminently, 2026 is set to be a pivotal year for locally owned energy projects.

Pick-up and drop-off: Middlesbrough Train Station

Please RSVP by registering here or emailing matthew.ahluwalia@ashden.org 

Community Energy Seeing is Believing North East and Yorkshire is a programme funded by the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub and delivered by Community Energy England, Ashden and Centre for Sustainable Energy. It is designed to share inspiring stories from people already doing great things in community energy through site visits, networking events and matchmaking, in order to support new connections and projects.

You’ll have the opportunity to connect with fellow practitioners and hear from experts working at the forefront of community energy, local power, and public-sector renewables.

Why attend?

• Visit to Cleveland & Redcar Council rooftop solar projects, demonstrating how councils are cutting costs and carbon through large-scale solar deployment
• Guided tour of Eston Pool, a brand-new leisure centre powered by air source heat pumps and on-site solar, showcasing a fully electric public facility in action
• Meet and share challenges with peers: Seeing is Believing Tours represent unique opportunities to spend time with peers tackling similar challenges, allowing for new connections, learnings and opportunities to arise

Join us for a webinar focused on helping community energy organisations understand public sector procurement in the North East and Yorkshire. It will explore how effective procurement can recognise social value and ensure strong local delivery partnerships between local authorities and community energy enterprises.

Why attend?

Community energy organisations, local authorities and regional partners increasingly share aligned goals around local energy and net zero. To deliver projects together, organisations need a clear understanding of public procurement processes and how to navigate them effectively.

This webinar will share insights into:

• Different types of procurement, i.e. direct award, competitive tenders, frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems.
• How to demonstrate the social impact of community energy initiatives within procurement.
• Approaches to collaborating with local suppliers, local authorities, anchor organisations and community energy organisations.
• Examples demonstrating procurement that results in community wealth building, delivering local economic, social and environmental benefits.

Who’s this for?

Whether you’re involved in community energy delivery, policy, local authorities, local net zero planning or supply chains, this session will help you understand how procurement processes can enable community energy partnerships to build community wealth.

Seeing is Believing:

This event is part of the North East and Yorkshire Seeing is Believing programme, funded by the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub, and delivered with CEE, Ashden and Centre for Sustainable Energy. It highlights how community energy organisations and local authorities can collaborate, showcasing the benefits for communities and stakeholders across the region.