Building & Design

Social housing organisations in the UK are forming an energy cooperative that could generate 250 MW of electricity and £20 million a year from small-scale renewable energy installations.

The Horizon Energy Cooperative, the first such initiative of its kind in England, wants to develop a ‘microgrid’ of locally generated wind and solar power.

Participating social housing properties will host the generation systems and pool the energy produced – either selling it back to the grid to raise revenue or using it locally to provide electricity and hot water.

Horizon also plans to offer a heavily subsidised social tariff for fuel poor residents, which make up an estimated 60% of those in social housing.

The partners in the scheme, Manchester-based EIC Partnership, Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs), Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and others, are currently seeking funding for the plans. The Cooperative Bank could be one prospective source, along with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

If an initial three-year pilot proves successful, EIC wants to look at a wider roll-out with the Government, with the ultimate aim as operating as a ‘virtual utility’.

“There is clearly a pressing need for creative thinking in the field of energy generation [and] we think the microgrid generation model has a major contribution to make, revolutionising energy production,” says EIC managing director Andrew Melchior.

For further information:
www.eicpartnership.com

Related stories:
UK moves ahead with six local renewables projects (10-Dec 2009)
Social housing retrofit programme gets underway in UK (25-Sept 2009)
Low-carbon refurbishment of homes – a sustainable solution (15-Sept 2009)