Dan McCallum, Egni’s co-director said “We are delighted to announce we’ve reached our initial £750k Share Offer target. It just shows that people across the UK know that climate change is important and want to invest in something ethical which is delivering rooftop solar energy. It also helps that we’ve developed the Awel wind farm www.awel.coop which has repaid its members @5% interest a year so people have confidence in us.
As we’re aiming to install up to 5MW on roofs across Wales by next March, we’re decided to double our target to £1.5m. This means we need to borrow less from the Development Bank of Wales to fund the remainder of our sites which is a win win – it means our borrowing costs are less and Development Bank can support other community energy projects in line with Welsh Government policy.”
Rosie Gillam Egni’s co-Director said “We are installing at the moment on nine sites: Queen’s Hall Narbeth, Pontypridd Precision Engineering in Ferndale, Cwmgors Energy Centre, Pontus Ltd in Hirwaun, Hirwaun Community Centre, East Williamston Community Hall, Glasdir Conference Centre, Cadoxton Community Centre and Owain Glyndwr Community Centre – a range of community buildings and also forward-thinking Welsh businesses who are committed to tackling climate change and reducing their energy overheads by working with us. These installs to our existing seven sites which have been operating well since 2014. In the pipeline are many more community buildings and businesses. We want to achieve our ambition to ‘solarise’ Wales.”
Last week, Egni Coop and its parent charity, Awel Aman Tawe won the Environment Business of the Year in the Social Business Wales Awards and we’re very proud to be featured in new Guidance published by the Future Generations Commissioner
Egni is also moonbound! Artist-poet Emily Hinshelwood is currently building a spaceship with the help of local schools and community groups in Pontardawe Arts Centre highlighting climate change and Egni’s solar share offer. More info here
Wales’ Future Generations Commissioner, Sophie Howe, says “It’s vital we raise awareness of climate change and look at new ways to focus on our future generations in Wales and worldwide. This is the only space project I’ve seen which focuses on sustainability, and is unique to Wales as part of World Space Week And this will be the first low carbon space mission which I hope will inspire our young people to take better care of Earth. Nasa might learn a thing or two.”
Through this project, Emily aims to echo the message from Tim Peake who returned from space saying ‘it’s a very big black universe out there and when you see the earth and nothing but blackness you realise this is it, this is home – we need to look after it’. https://twitter.com/lorraine/status/1151405447678763008
Come along & take part in building the capsule and in Emily’s creative workshops and find out what happens when you look at home from 230,000 miles away.
