SSE establishes new partnership with Bath & West Community Energy

06 Oct 2011

SSE has entered into an innovative new partnership with Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE - www.bwce.coop) - a community based social enterprise that is seeking to create a community-owned and financially sustainable enterprise that will make a major contribution to local, renewable energy targets.

SSE is providing BWCE with a £1 million start up loan to fund 400kW of Solar PV installations covering up to 12 projects in the Bath and Corsham area - mainly involving local schools. Alongside this loan BWCE is launching a share issue with the expectation of raising £400,000 to fund further renewable energy developments.

SSE’s energy solutions business will install, monitor and maintain the Solar PV systems and act as a long term partner as BWCE seeks to develop new projects.

Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said: “Big companies like SSE need to find new ways to work with communities, in order to build trust and tackle climate change together. That means we must listen to what communities need; not simply telling them what big business thinks they need.  

“SSE has a strong track record of engaging with communities, but even for us this partnership with BWCE is breaking new ground. For the first time SSE is investing directly in the ambitions of a community to own and control its own renewable energy resources.  But our partnership goes well beyond this. SSE will be working with BWCE as a genuine partner rather than as a controlling Corporate and one of the strengths of the partnership is that each partner is focussing on what they do best.  BWCE is engaging directly with the people in its community and securing the right projects to develop.  SSE will provide the expertise in installing and operating renewable generation and providing tangible financial support.

“I'm genuinely excited about this new partnership and I believe it has the potential to be replicated across the whole of the UK. We’re in this space for the long haul and we see community energy as an important part of the future energy landscape. To put this in context, the UK is predicted to require in the range of £200bn of new low carbon infrastructure investment - if community energy is just 1% of that, it still represents a £2bn potential market and I want SSE to help create that market.”

Peter Capener, Chair of BWCE, said: “Without significant investment from companies like SSE, it is difficult to see how the community energy sector will be able to flourish and grow with the speed necessary to move community action on renewable energy from a niche activity into mainstream delivery.
 
“SSE is helping us out at the crucial start-up phase that is notoriously difficult to get finance for. It has been refreshing to work with SSE as a genuine partner. Their flexible approach to agreeing the financial terms of the loan being a good example of this, recognising and addressing our needs rather than offering a take it or leave it offer. Their support will allow BWCE to establish itself as a financially sustainable community enterprise far more quickly. Most importantly we will be able to retain local ownership of our projects and offer significant community benefits as a result by recycling a greater proportion of the income we earn back into our local economy.
 
“We welcome the opportunity to work with SSE to help prove a new model for community energy financing that we hope will benefit many more communities in the future.”