CARBON NEUTRAL EXMOOR
Introduction
In February 2010, Exmoor National Park Authority was notified by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) of a successful application to its £10m Low Carbon Community Challenge (LCCC) programme. ENPA’s “Carbon Neutral Exmoor” application was one of only 22 applications to be approved across England, North Ireland and Wales, and one of only three in the South West.
As a consequence, around £400,000 was made available to the community in Exmoor National Park to enable us to pilot a community-based approach to making the transition to low carbon living. The funding was to be spent on capital projects which would help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures. Projects also had to have some sort of benefit, either directly or indirectly, for the wider community.
DECC set a tight timescale for this project giving us a deadline to have all the work installed and paid for by 31st March 2011. Moreover, the change in Government meant that we were not given the go-ahead to spend the money until August 2010.
What is Carbon Neutral Exmoor?
Carbon Neutral Exmoor (phase 1) is a 3 year project that has been instigated by Exmoor National Park Authority which aims to transform Exmoor into a low carbon community with a view to achieving carbon neutrality by 2025. The majority of the revenue funding for this project has been put forward by Exmoor National Park Authority. Additional funding has been secured through the Rural Development Programme for England Local Action for Rural Communities Programme from the Torridge and North Devon Local Action Group and the Western Somerset Local Action Group. Capital funding for projects has been secured through the Low Carbon Communities Challenge and we are actively exploring other potential funding streams to help get projects off the ground.
The Low Carbon Communities Officer (Ben Eardley) has been employed by the National Park Authority to support communities, farmers and other land managers in developing and implementing low carbon projects. For example, a community may wish to give its village hall a renewable energy “makeover”, start up a community-owned shop or develop a community-owned hydropower project. Ben can support the community in developing its project, identifying potential funding streams and in project delivery. Similarly, a farmer may wish to have an energy audit undertaken of their farm – again, Ben can help by providing a free survey with recommendations.
Through Carbon Neutral Exmoor, we are seeking to accelerate the pace at which the community of Exmoor can make the transition to low carbon living through:
- Developing a knowledge sharing framework (exemplar projects, case studies, study tours, encouraging innovation)
- Focusing the activity of a range of supports covering low carbon themes through partnership working onto Exmoor so that a holistic approach can be taken (e.g. working with waste partnerships, water companies, developing opportunities for the provision of local food etc)
- Securing finance for projects and increasing our knowledge in that regard.
We are supporting communities in particular with a view to encouraging wider ownership and benefit from community low carbon schemes.
What is the Low Carbon Communities Challenge (LCCC) and how has it been delivered through Carbon Neutral Exmoor?
The LCCC is a two-year programme aimed at helping government, local communities and a range of parties involved in the UK transition to low carbon living to understand how best to deliver this transition at community level. Through the programme, DECC is supporting ‘test-bed’ communities to enable them to implement integrated plans aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The LCCC is about involving a broad section of people living and working in communities to develop integrated plans for their area that help to create a broader low carbon area or ‘zone’.
It is a research initiative and participants must be willing to share learning and talk openly about their experiences. To ensure that our learning is academically robust and independent, DECC will be working with UK academic institutions to monitor and evaluate the project.
To ensure strong community involvement in the project, we have involved grassroots community representatives from the start and will continue to do so through the governance structures of the project.
Communities were asked to put forward projects for funding through an open “call for project proposals”(PDF) which was issued in March 2010. The value of projects submitted exceeded the amount of funding available through DECC and in any case we needed some form of quality control to ensure that only worthwhile projects were funded – so we developed a selection process which included an independent assessment of projects by a regional representative of the Energy Saving Trust. Having an independent person with no Exmoor associations assessing projects was important to remove any potential bias that might result in projects being unfairly selected for funding.
In the end, 21 installations were selected which were put forward to DECC as a package for their consideration and approval. Several reserve installations were also put in place to take the place of any of the selected installations should they not go ahead for any reason. In the event, quite a few installations did not proceed so the presence of reserve installations proved to be a ‘saving grace’ – if we had not had those projects in place and ready to go, the money allocated to them by DECC would have been lost.
The current situation – April 2011
10 projects have been funded comprising of 20 installations covering a range of technologies including wind power, solar PV, solar hot water heating, wood pellet heating, log gasification heating, heat pump technology and insulation. A full list of projects can be found here (PDF, 57KB). All of these projects have now been completed.
To encourage and support people in Exmoor interested in installing these technologies, case studies will be produced for all projects and will be made available on this website and in hard copy format. We will also arrange a series of tours to enable people to view and ask questions about these technologies. The successful applicants in each village have been asked to prepare ‘local engagement plans’ to ensure that people living in and around their village are aware of the installations funded and of their benefits to the community.
Funding model – a revolving fund
The funding has been given to community groups in the form of a grant repayable by returns from the Feed-In-Tariff or Renewable Heat Incentive. The repayment period has been capped at ten years to ensure that communities derive the extra benefit of these renewable incentive schemes within a reasonable timescale. In the meantime, they will enjoy a range of benefits including free electricity, warmer buildings, and lower heating bills. The repaid FITs and RHI will be ring-fenced into a community fund to be used to fund other community-based low carbon projects in the future.
Want to get involved?
If you or a group to which you belong would like to get involved in Carbon Neutral Exmoor, please give us a call on 01398 323665 and ask to speak to Ben Eardley or Tim Stokes. If you have a project idea, we may be able to help you to develop it and if appropriate, link you with other people in your community that have a shared interest. A list of the type of services we are able to provide through Carbon Neutral Exmoor is set out below:
- Energy audits for community buildings
- Project development for community projects
- Assistance with project delivery
- Case studies
- Facilitating networking events for people interested in low carbon living
- Organising study tours and events to promote low carbon living
- Farm energy audits
- Farm low carbon audits considering a range of greenhouse gas emissions
- Identifying and pulling in supports relevant to low carbon living that are available from a variety of sources
Householders seeking advice regarding renewable energy and other aspects of low carbon living should contact the Energy Saving Trust energy advice centre network on 0800 512012. We regret that we do not have the capacity to provide such a service.