Re-imagining community energy

04/11/2019

Update on the vision consultation (20 January 2020) 

The consultation is now closed and you can find the results in this document. Thank you to those who responded, we are grateful for your input. If you want to feedback any thoughts or think something crucial is missing please contact our projects officer, Jeana (j.malhi@communityenergyengland.org) by close of play on the 3rd February 2020. 

Next steps:

  • We will now incorporate the feedback from all three member consultation sessions that CEE have hosted into a final vision statement draft.
  • CEE will test a final draft with members during our spring conference in order for the vision to be launched during Community Energy Fortnight this year.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What do you want the next ten years of community energy to look like? CEE and Tyndall Manchester held a workshop at our annual conference in June 2019 about developing, in collaboration with practitioners, a 10-year vision for the community energy sector. We have since then held a visioning session with a small representative cross-section of practitioners' to kick start the visioning process.

If you are a community energy practitioner or stakeholder who wants to input please share your views by responding to the first stage of our public consultation! CEE is running this first stage until Christmas (20 December 2019), after which we will collate the results and shape them into proposed vision statements which will then go out for the second stage of consultation after New Year 2020.

Since 2012 the community energy sector has grown (impressively considering the odds) whilst being flexible and adaptable - responding to a range of different energy-related needs. Now is a crucial time for the sector as it is edging towards a new era.

The vision will be important for the sector as it will showcase our ambition for community energy in the next ten years and will be used to help increase understanding and support from the public, politicians and stakeholders. A vision developed by community energy practitioners will provide a unified voice for the sector and be used in ongoing communications for lobbying, policy development and collaborations. It will also be used to help to demonstrate the larger role of community energy.

The vision would be a working document developed by community energy practitioners that would define what community energy is (or isn't), communicate what the sector wants to achieve in the next ten years, (demonstrating the larger role of community energy, one that cuts across governmental departments), and will identify key stakeholders and future opportunities for collaboration. 

If you have any questions or want to know more  please email Jeana, our projects officer at j.malhi@communityenergyengland.org