by tresoc | Oct 14, 2022 | Latest Blog Post
Community energy has never seemed so attractive. It is a way for people to take control of their local renewable energy resources, increase local resilience, reduce dependency on fossil fuels, and support the local economy. In doing so, we can enhance community cohesion and tackle fuel poverty and with rising energy bills this autumn, we need this now more than ever.
Totnes Renewable Energy Society (TRESOC) is one of many Devon based renewable energy companies, owned and operated by the local community. It raises money to develop energy projects through a community share-offer, which ensures that any profits are kept within the local economy. For more information, visit our website www.tresoc.co.uk, or for your local group visit www.devoncommnunityenergy.org.uk.
TRESOC currently has a grant from Devon County Council (Team Devon’s COVID -19 Economic Recovery and Business Prospectus Funding) to establish an Energy Local Club to sell locally generated renewable electricity to local people at a reduced price, effectively establishing Totnes’ own renewable energy marketplace. Within an Energy Local Club (ELC), households and small businesses pay a lower price for electricity if they use the renewable energy from local generators, when it is generated; the customer pays less, and the generator receives more (contrary to belief, small generators, such as TRESOC are not receiving windfall prices for the electricity they produce). TRESOC is working with Energy Local CIC to develop the project. Energy Local have 12 community projects across England and Wales, all helping to reduce the price of electricity for local people.
At the national level, Power to the People is campaigning for the Local Electricity Bill, which if made law, would enable community energy groups to sell renewable electricity directly to local people. For more information and to sign the petition, go to their website: powerforpeople.org.uk
Energy price hikes next month will make this a harsh winter for many. We’ve got tips to help.
Pictured: Sally Murrall-Smith, TRESOC Operations Director
by tresoc | Jul 6, 2022 | Latest TRESOC News, News
We have now appointed an Energy Local Advisor/co-ordinator, Jem Friar, who will be responsible for establishing the Energy Local Totnes Co-operative. If people want to register their interest, they can go onto the Energy Local Totnes page on the Energy Local website: Totnes | Energy Local.
Jem will be working on the project for approximately 6 months. The project has been made possible thanks to grant funding received by TRESOC from Devon County Council to establish an Energy Local Club to buy locally generated renewable energy, which will then be sold through the club at a discounted rate. Local people and businesses will be invited to join the club to benefit from reduced cost electricity and Jem will be working alongside Energy Local CIC to support the club.
by tresoc | Jul 6, 2022 | Latest TRESOC News
We were delighted to work with students at St. Christopher’s School n Staverton last month as part of our REEL programme – Renewable Energy Experiential Learning.
The programme includes student-led critical thinking around our global need for energy and takes place over 2 days. It involves site visits to see real technologies in action to produce renewable energy, followed by a making day in school, creating our own versions of renewable energy technology designs through arts and craft. It took place on 15th and 16th June.
Headmistress, Alexandra Cottell says;
“The children at St. Christopher’s hugely benefit from the input they have from the REEL project. Both the field trip and the on-site learning are very engaging and offer an excellent hands-on approach to STEM learning.”
On the field trip day we visited the Marley Head Wind Turbine, thanks to South Brent Community Energy; the Solar Farm and Woodfuel Boiler on the Dartington Estate, thanks to Dartington Trust; and the Totnes Weir Hydro thanks to Dart Renewables.
On the making day, we ran 3 workshops, solar, wind and hydro (experimenting with solar circuits, lemon batteries, multi meters, making Archimedes Screws and Savonious wind turbines).
Each REEL project supports joined up skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). REEL is now in its 5th year, has been delivered for free to over 10 schools and over 260 children have taken part.
by tresoc | Jul 6, 2022 | Latest TRESOC News, News
Hannah is a Senior Associate at Foot Anstey solicitors and is a member of their dispute resolution team specialising in property litigation. Her key areas of interest include enforceability of restrictive covenants and easements.
Hannah works for clients across a variety of sectors including large retailers, high net worth individuals, and landed estates. In all cases she aims to provide clear and practical advice to clients and enjoys tailoring this advice to suit each client whether they’re a multi-national company or an individual.
Sadly, Stephanie Burns has had to step down due to time commitments, but we are very grateful to her for her support over the last 2 years.
Find out more about who’s who at TRESOC on the About Us page
by tresoc | May 20, 2022 | Job, News
TRESOC is seeking an Energy Local Totnes Co-ordinator, to work with the team on the Totnes Energy Club. Approx. 100 hours’ work undertaken over the project set-up time (anticipated to be approx. 6 months to 1 year, beginning in June 2022). Please send applications to admin@tresoc.co.uk by 12.00 noon, 10th June 2022.
TRESOC has received grant funding from Devon County Council to establish an Energy Local Club to buy locally generated renewable energy, which will then be sold through the club at a discounted rate. Local people and businesses will be invited to join the club to benefit from reduced cost electricity. The co-ordinator will be responsible for membership and work with Energy Local CIC to support the club. The successful candidate will receive training at the end of June.
Role Description:
Scope of work:
Activities of the Energy Local Co-ordinator
- Attend one face to face and one online training day with Energy Local C.I.C.
- Create a local marketing and engagement plan to recruit the required number of households and small businesses to the Energy Local Club.
- Create promotional materials and information based on resources supplied by Energy Local C.I.C.
- Management of the Energy Local portal; creating a Club page on the portal and using the portal to monitor and manage registrations to the Club.
- Informing and corresponding with potential Club members; in person, via phone and email and sending bulk communications using MailChimp.
- Recruit Co-operative Directors to represent the Club and work with Energy Local to register the Co-operative with the FCA.
- Adhere to Energy Local ethos and guidance when using the Energy Local Toolkit, portal and Dashboard.
- Ensure sensitive participant information is kept in accordance with data protection legislation including GDPR.
by tresoc | Mar 10, 2022 | Events, Latest TRESOC News, News
We’re delighted to be hosting Mary Gillie, Founder and Director of Energy Local, for a talk at the REconomy Centre in Totnes on Tuesday 15th March, between 6-7pm. Energy Local is a Community Interest Company transforming the electricity market for communities and small-scale renewable generators. Their mission is to help communities get more value from small-scale renewable generation by using the electricity locally. Thanks to a grant of £25,000 from Team Devon’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery and Business Prospectus Funding, TRESOC will be developing up to five new community-owned rooftop solar PV installations in Totnes. These will combine to establish an Energy Local Club in Totnes (Energy Local Totnes) to buy the electricity generated, effectively establishing Totnes’s own renewable energy marketplace. Within an Energy Local Club, householders and small businesses pay a lower price for electricity if they use renewable energy from local generators when it is generated; the customer pays less, and the generator receives more. Right now, people living near renewables purchase the electricity back for three or four times the price the generator is paid for it.
There are many community and environmental benefits to an ELC. The community benefits from reducing fuel poverty by selling energy affordably and allowing locally owned generators more control over pricing, all keeping the profits in the local economy. The environment benefits by customers reducing their reliance on fossil fuels.
TRESOC are looking for five large south-facing roofs – they could be a school, a row of terraces or an industrial building – and for householders and businesses to join the Club and use the green, local, cheaper energy. They are also looking for someone to train as an energy advisor and to run the club. This will be a paid, part time role with flexible hours so would suit a parent with young children. In addition, volunteers will be needed to support setting up the Club and to be members of the Energy Local Totnes board.
TRESOC will own and operate the solar PV on each of the 5 sites (approximately 250kW, enough to power to boil 250 kettles at peak output) and will raise the capital to install the panels through a community share-offer, which means all profits from the scheme will return to the local economy. The occupiers of each site will have a Power Purchase Agreement with TRESOC for the energy used on site and any excess electricity will be sold into the Energy Local Club within the local substation area. The scheme will be supported by Energy Local CIC, who have established several Clubs in England and Wales. Totnes Energy Local Club will be the first to allow local small businesses to take part. Once the Club is established new generators can join, balanced by new customers, and the club can continue to grow. To take part generators and members of the club need to sign up to the same energy tariff, an Energy Local Tariff, that is currently being provided by Octopus Energy.
Anyone who would like to be involved in the Club, as an energy advisor, a member, a board member, or who knows of a large south facing roof, please email admin@tresoc.co.uk or call TRESOC on 01803 867431. And come to the talk! Places are limited to please book, again by emailing admin@tresoc.co.uk.
by tresoc | Nov 1, 2021 | Latest TRESOC News, News
TRESOC is delighted to have a new Finance Director, Raymond Seager. We were sorry to say goodbye to Dominic Turner, who had to leave us for health reasons and are sad to lose him. Raymond comes to us with a wealth of experience in finance, working nearly 20 years variously for Bank of America, Barclays and HSBC in public sector finance. He started to focus on environmental finance over 10 years ago, helping to develop the ESG capital markets. He has since broadened into the wider sustainable finance area, encompassing environmental and social projects, and works as a consultant training and advising organisations. He moved to the Totnes area with his wife and two kids in 2017 and becomes TRESOC’s Finance Director in 2021.
by tresoc | Oct 19, 2021 | Latest Blog Post, Latest TRESOC News, News
TRESOC and Transition Homes Community Land Trust (THCLT) are thrilled to announce TRESOC’s award of a second Government grant, for £79,710, from the Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF). The money will be used for the development of a Community Microgrid and Solar scheme at THCLT’s Clay Park development. THCLT has planning permission for 31 highly energy-efficient eco-homes and are currently submitting a planning application to add eight more homes to the site to help balance the books. This application also includes plans to increase the biodiversity of the site through extra tree planting, marsh plants in the damper areas and bird, bee and bat boxes to house wildlife. The housing development will offer a choice of affordable rent or shared ownership for local people in housing need. It has invited TRESOC to become the energy supplier, and to own and operate the energy system.
The innovative microgrid design will enable residents to maximise the use of the 160kW rooftop Solar PV, by sending the green energy to wherever it is needed on site, rather than feeding it back to the grid as is customary. This will make it more efficient and enable the green energy to be sold to the residents at a reduced market rate. TRESOC envisages this to be 10% less than grid price, minimising residents’ energy bills. The energy system software will further maximise energy savings by heating hot water from the daytime solar.
TRESOC received a Stage 1 RCEF Grant to carry out a feasibility study that demonstrated the project is technically and economically viable. The Stage 2 Development Grant will now pay for the technical, legal, financial and community engagement work to take the project to the point of being finance ready.
Jon Rattenbury, Programme Manager for the SW Energy Hub, said: “We are delighted to be supporting TRESOC through the next stages of their Clay Park projects. Innovative projects such as this prove how much community initiatives can achieve in the energy space and the vital role projects like these play in the transition to net zero.”
The grant recognises the innovative nature of the project, which it is hoped will demonstrate an economically viable community business model for providing solar PV on housing estates that can be shared with other community energy groups, and the energy sector more widely. Part of the grant is specifically for knowledge sharing and dissemination, and TRESOC have waived any intellectual property rights. TRESOC are a member of the Devon Community Energy Network and has encouraged the establishment of a microgrids working group to facilitate this knowledge sharing. There are several local community energy groups exploring microgrids, who will be able to share the Clay Park legal and technical templates, greatly reducing their own development costs.
TRESOC are working with Buro Happold for the technical design and Ansley Foot Solicitors for legal work. Communities for Renewables and Westerly Chartered Accountants will be providing financial advice. Within the technical design Buro Happold have already identified several software gaps and are using the project to kick start innovation in these areas which will help other small scale microgrids going forward.
The capital to pay for the infrastructure, ie the microgrid, solar and EV charging system – approximately £160,000 – will be raised through a community share offer. Clay Park residents, TRESOC members and the Totnes and Dartington community will be eligible to participate. The feasibility study projected an interest rate of 3% with a payback period of 20 years. Surplus income from the project will be used to support ongoing energy advice work with residents, a Clay Park Community Fund and TRESOC’s Renewable Energy Experiential Learning (REEL) programme for local primary schools.
On site at Clay Park, the access road has gone in. However, the main construction project is delayed while THCLT await the outcome of their revised planning application. They hope to begin construction in the new year.
by tresoc | Oct 13, 2021 | Events, Latest TRESOC News, News
We are pleased to invite you to our Annual General Meeting at 7.00p.m. on Wednesday 10th November 2021. Members, friends and the public are welcome to attend, ask questions and help us develop our strategy for the year ahead – we’d like to welcome all of you! Our goal – as always – is that you are aligned with, and endorse, the efforts we are making on your behalf.
The Directors’ Report and a summary of our latest Accounts to 31st March 2020 will be sent out to members by October 19th, or you can download them via the links below. A signed copy of the accounts has been submitted to the Financial Services Authority, and you can also see them using the link below. In order to attend, email admin@tresoc.co.uk to register and receive the link.
If you are a member and are unable to attend, it is vital you arrange a Proxy Vote. The Rules of TRESOC require 10% of members to vote at the AGM and, with 560 members, every vote counts. Please download and sign the Proxy Voting Form and put through the door at – or post to – TRESOC, 107 High Street, Totnes, TQ9 5SN, or scan and email to admin@tresoc.co.uk.
by tresoc | Sep 23, 2021 | Latest TRESOC News, News
105 children from years 5 and 6 at the Grove school in Totnes have taken part in TRESOC’s two-day Renewable Energy Experiential Learning (REEL) Programme. Day one was a field trip to Marley Head Wind Turbine, Marley Thatch Solar Farm and Totnes Weir Hydro. On day two (which we ran three times as there were so many children), we ran three workshops: in electronics, where children experimented with lemon batteries, mini solar panels, LEDs and multi-meters; in wind, where the children built vertical axis wind turbines out of recycled cardboard; and hydro, where children were asked to make a prototype for an Archimedes screw the way Archimedes intended – to move water uphill. They were given the materials and left to get on with it. Amazingly, several of the groups were able to complete the task with no help. Not sure how many adults would have been able to do this! The school were delighted with the project. Class teacher Miss Pearce commented that the project was amazing as all the children were totally engaged, and class teacher Mr Goud, thought the field trip really enhanced the learning experience.
The programme was enabled by a grant from the Chacegrove Family Foundation and delivered to the school for free. TRESOC is very grateful to them for their support and belief in the project.
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Lemon battery success!
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Testing a solar circuit
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Making Archimedes screws at the Grove
TRESOC is also thankful to all the individuals and companies that collaborated on the project, including: South Brent Community Energy Society, Dart Renewables Ltd, Fisktek, RES, Quintas, Octopus Energy and TRESOC Volunteer Max Faircloth. TRESOC is incredibly lucky that so many local companies see the importance of educating the next generation about decentralised renewable energy and are happy to give up their time to make this happen.
by tresoc | Jul 28, 2021 | Events, Latest TRESOC News
We are hosting three FREE family-friendly moth events in August, in conjunction with Art & Energy Collective’s Moths To A Flame project. The project invites people to think about their relationship with energy, ahead of COP26 in Glasgow later this year, and to record their message of hope to the delegates.
10th August – The Moth’s Whisper Book Reading by Miranda Barlow
2pm @ St John’s Church, Bridgetown, Totnes
There will be a free moth activity pack for every child who attends
Come and join KEVICC alumni writer and illustrator Miranda Barlow at St John’s Church in Bridgetown for a reading of her book The Moth’s Whisper*, followed by an augmented reality moth-making session with a moth colouring sheet. Your drawings will be brought to life using the QuiverVision App and you can record a selfie with your own whisper of hope for the future, then share it online using #MothsToAFlame.
The Moth’s Whisper was specially commissioned for Moths to a Flame. It follows the journey of Marny, a newly emerged Yellow Underwing moth as she emerges from her pupa and discovers the world of humans as she journeys in search of the moon.
*The collective noun for moths is a whisper.
12th August – Family Moth-Making Event for a magnificent Climate Emergency mass-participation art installation for COP26, Glasgow
10am, 11am, 12 noon, 2pm, 3pm @ Totnes Civic Hall
- Moth Making
- Record a message for COP26
17th August – Moth Watching
8.30am @ Totnes Weir Hydro
- Talk from a local moth expert
- Tour of the Hydro Plant
- Record a message for #COP26
- Make observational drawings of moths using handmade oak gall ink
Please pre-register for all events, to register please email charlotte@tresoc.co.uk
Places will be given out on a first come first served basis
by tresoc | Jun 2, 2021 | Latest Blog Post, Latest TRESOC News, News
TRESOC was delighted to be back in schools at the end of May, running its free renewable energy education programme for primary schools. The Renewable Energy Experiential Learning (REEL) programme ran with Year 6 at St Christopher’s Prep School in Staverton over two days.
On the field trip day, the children visited the Marley Head wind turbine (grateful thanks to South Brent Community Energy Society), Totnes weir hydro (with thanks to Dart Renewables Ltd), and the Dartington solar farm and woodfuel boiler (thanks to Dartington Hall Trust). TRESOC is extremely grateful to its sponsors for their ongoing support and access to their installations. As our Operations Director Sally Murrall-Smith said, “I’m aware of how lucky we are in Totnes, to have so many innovative organisations and embedded renewable technologies on our doorstep – organisations that are very happy to engage with the programme and enrich it. As a result, the children learn about renewable energy and wider energy issues. My hope is that the REEL programme empowers children by presenting positive ways to address climate change and busting some of the myths about renewable energy technologies.”
During the workshop day, the children took part in three workshops looking specifically at solar, wind and hydro technologies. For the solar workshop, the children carried out chemistry and physics experiments using electronics equipment. They also learned how important battery technologies are for renewables; without the them the energy is only available at the time it is being generated.
Alexandra Cottell, Head Mistress of the school thinks that ‘The REEL programme is a fantastic STEM project, that brings together physics, chemistry, maths and engineering into one place. It has been an enriching experience for all the children. It is the fourth time that the school have taken part is in the programme and we hope to continue to do so into the future.”
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Children testing the moisture content of the wood chips for the Dartington biomass boiler, which heats the buildings in the medieval courtyard on the estate. The drier the better; a high moisture content creates more smoke and harmful particles of air pollution.
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Busting the myth that you can get electrocuted by simply touching a PV panel. The children understood that the panels do get hot on a sunny day.
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The children were surprised how quiet the turbine was compared to the traffic on A38, despite being stood 100m away when it was operating at full power. South Brent Community Energy Society said they have carried out a study on bird strikes and found no evidence of it happening.
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The students were impressed to see the two turbine at Totnes Weir Hydro working flat out, providing enough power for a 3rd of all homes in Totnes.
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The first experiment was to create a battery from a piece of fruit and explored voltage and current using multi-meters.
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They then used their batteries to examine the effects of location (sun direction and intensity) and direction on the voltage and current produced by a mini-solar panel.
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The children made their own Savonious wind turbine cut out of cardboard. This involved producing a technical drawing of the panels and using geometry to work out required angles.
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Wind turbines assembled.
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In the hydro workshop, the children made an Archimedes screw out of plastic tubes and elastic bands, to move water up hills, the way Archimedes originally intended!
The children were also lucky enough to take part in a craft workshop to make renewable energy artwork that works using the energy from the sun. The Cyanotype session was run by Chloe Uden and Naomi Wright from Art and Energy Collective. They are the inspiration and driving force behind the Moths to a Flame movement that is turning calls for urgent action on the Climate Emergency into a magnificent mass-participation art installation at COP26 in Glasgow this year, using the moth as a metaphor for our relationship with energy. They are inviting everyone to help make 20,000 moths and record messages for COP26 delegates, which will be exhibited at the Glasgow Botanical Garden during the COP26 and then in Plymouth. TRESOC will be running community moth making events in the summer.
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Cyanotype prints use a mixture of iron compounds exposed to UV light. Washed in water, the iron oxidises to create beautiful Prussian Blue images.
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