With a mission to bring the benefits of community-owned renewable energy to Kensington and Chelsea, NKCE took shape in 2018 and launched our share offer at the end of 2018.
In less than three months, we have already installed 86 kWp of solar panels on the roofs of Avondale Park and Thomas Jones Primary Schools, and installation is happening this week at the Dalgarno Community Centre. This has been to ensure the project can be commissioned before March 31st and that it will receive the Feed in-Tariff for the next 20 years. This Feed-in-Tariff is a subsidy for the generation of clean solar energy, empowering us to meet three of our fundamental goals:
- Produce our own green energy
- Create a community fund of approximately £28,000 to be used in our borough
- Repay Investors with an average 3% interest plus their investment back
1 – Green Energy
Given recent reports from the intergovernmental panel on climate change IPCC it’s clear that we need to reduce our carbon footprint as quickly as possible. The renewable energy generated by our panels will do the following:
- Installing 86 kWp of Solar PV panels, create enough energy to power 20 homes
- Save 32 tonnes of CO2 every year
2 – Community
We’re called North Kensington Community Energy for good reason, as the sale of clean electricity will create a community fund of approximately £28,000 to be used in the local borough. Community participation in the project has already begun with successful AQA accredited youth training programmes for 16-19-year olds and educational workshops for primary schools, Click here to see our video on this.
We also pride ourselves on the fact that whether you are an investor or a member you will become a co-operative voting member having your say in steering and deciding the use of the community fund. Become a voting member for £1
3 – Investors
North Kensington Community Energy is a community project that relies on investment from everyday people. These funds are being raised through a community share offer and 89 people have already come together to help fund the project. Our share offer is open until 15th March 2019, any person or business can Become an investor with details of the shares offer here.
Supported by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Mayor of London’s office, the project is run by Repowering London who have past form, having created 5 similar projects in Brixton, Vauxhall and Homerton in Hackney. With future plans to expand our presence in North Kensington further by installing 150 kWp on Westway Leisure Centre.
Two-dimensional writing doesn’t convey so well the scope and impact of what is being done so check out our video here (https://youtu.be/2GEML7c_I6s)or go to our website at www.repowering.org.uk/projects/NKCE to read more, watch the videos about our training and see other participants, young and not so young, talk about what the projects have meant to them.
So, Support-donate! if share buying is not your cup of tea, promote widely and then
Dave Fuller is the projects manager at Repowering London
