Experienced Practitioner Group
CEE's experienced practitioner group provides a space within which experienced community energy practitioners can discuss a range of aspects of practical delivery and running larger community energy organisations, with the aim of sharing expertise, experiences and innovations, exploring collaboration and avoiding duplication/repetition. The limited membership allows discussions to include greater detail and depth than our more open events or Loomio forum, and confidentiality allows open conversation about challenges, risks and errors. As of March 2024 there have been eight meetings, with around 10 practitioners attending each session.
Energy Efficiency Working Group
As the energy crisis tightened its grip in early 2022 CEE decided that helping communities though it by saving and using energy more efficiently was a key response for the sector. We convened a group of expert practitioners to steer activity to help the sector be as effective as possible, provide thought leadership and sharing of knowledge and best practice, drive funding and resources to the sector and shape our advocacy to government on this issue. We also want to deliver evidence of why energy advice and interventions delivered by knowledgeable trusted community members is better than anything delivered remotely. Initially the focus has been on energy efficiency and fuel poverty advice and remediation. Retrofit will become more of a focus as the immediate energy bill crisis recedes. As a result of the work of CEE and the working group we trained 24 new energy advisors and made 2 proposals to government for action on energy efficiency.
As of February 2024 the Working Group has met 20 times. As many of our initial aims, (including securing the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) fund from government) have been met the group decided to meet quarterly. However with the new government developing its Warm Homes Plan and the number of households in fuel poverty only increasing it has returned to monthly meetings, 11am - 12pm on the first Wednesday of the month. You can view our rolling notes, which also has a resources section here. We have an email group for discussion and announcements. Email Josef Davies-Coates, CEE's Heat and Retrofit Coordinator to ask to join the email group and/or the meetings.
Community Energy Heat Working Group
Following excellent workshops on Heat Decarbonisation at our national conference in June 2022 Kate Gilmartin agreed to convene our Heat Working Group. It now meets approximately monthly with meet ups with equivalent groups in Wales and Scotland about every 3 months. It is principally a space for people to share knowledge, technical solutions, financial models, engagement methods and solutions to enable replicability and scaling as well as barriers. It can also be a place to identify potential partners. It is also collecting resources and advising CEE on its lobbying in this arena. The Working Group's rolling notes are here. You can watch important presentations to the Working Group from members on CEE's YouTube channel. In March 2023 CEE held a Heat Decarbonisation event which you can watch here
Email j.davies-coates@communityenergyengland.org to join.
Ethical Sourcing Working Group
As a result of a very active thread on Loomio of members concerned about sourcing solar panels not produced by Chinese slave labour this group was formed to define the issue and come up with reliable information for members and to campaign for ethical sourcing across the solar sector. As of November 2024 it has met 18 times, produced a statement of concern, a database of what we know about solar suppliers, a draft policy for community energy organisations to adopt and engaged in additional research and lobbying for more ethical sourcing of solar components in the UK. The group now meets every 2 months.
Email d.law@communityenergyengland.org to join.