Awel Co-op has won an award as the best Community Energy Renewable Project in 2016. The Award covers all projects in England and Wales.
Mary Ann Brocklesby, one of Awel’s Directors, said “We are absolutely delighted. There are now hundreds of fantastic projects being developed across the UK so it’s a huge honour to gain this recognition. We’ve been working on this community wind farm for 18 years and were there at the start of the community energy movement in the UK. It’s taken a long time, and we’ve had to overcome many setbacks, but it’s wonderful to see the wind turbines being built now and the support we’ve getting through our Share Offer. There is now over 150MW of community energy and £95m of community investment in the UK – we are proud to be part of this movement.
We are also finalists in the Renewables UK Cymru Awards in the Outstanding Organisation category which will be announced on the 4th November in Cardiff, and in the Social Business Wales Awards which will be announced in a ceremony at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea on the 28th September.
Dan McCallum, Awel’s project manager said “Community energy is one of the best ways to tackle climate change as it engages people in our energy system. It was fascinating to hear at the Community Energy Awards about the growth of community energy in Germany – 1,000MW of installed projects and £1.53 billion invested. There are now over 800 energy co-ops in Germany – see the graph below.
There was a strong showing for Wales across the Awards with Anafon Hydo, Swansea Energy Coop, Cydynni and Cilgwyn being recognised @Anafon_Hydro @SCEES_Swansea #cilgwyn #cydynni.
“We want our wind farm to be owned by as many people as possible – it’s fantastic that you can co-own a wind farm from £50. As a co-op, it’s one member, one vote irrespective of how many shares someone owns. We are offering a return of 5% to members and all profits go into further community renewable projects.
We have already raised nearly £1.3m and are looking to raise £2m from our community share offer. Please join us by investing at www.awel.coop. “