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Renewables East

by Paul Bourgeois

Renewables East, the Regional Renewable Energy Agency for the East of England, is a not-for-profit, private and independent company, established and core funded by the East of England Development Agency, tasked with advocating the growth of renewable energy whilst simultaneously capturing the economic opportunities associated with secured a low cost, reliable and secure form of low carbon energy.

Renewables East has three main work streams:

1. Bio-energy
2. Off-shore Renewables
3. Mass Market Renewables

Included within these three are cross-cutting themes such as planning, investment advice and technology commercialisation.

Mass Market Renewables is the latest growth area for Renewables East and has the remit of stimulating uptake and embedding commercial sized renewable energy technologies into businesses, communities, schools and new building developments. With over half a million new houses planned for the region new domestic housing alone represents a significant opportunity for distributed energy generation and low carbon communities.

Renewables East is working with planning authorities, mass market housing developers, registered social landlords, technology manufacturers, suppliers and installers as well as training providers to ensure that demand and supply are matched within the region whilst maximising the economic benefits associated with renewable energy technologies.

We are also working very closely with the Low Carbon Buildings Programme to ensure that we can take full advantage of the funding streams available across all sectors. Equally we are galvanising regional, sub-regional and local renewable energy interest organisations to ensure that retrospective uptake in the domestic sector is increased and that there is confidence, understanding and choice in the market.

The Mass Market Renewables team also includes the Community Renewables Initiative Advisor based at Writtle College in Essex and because of its strong tendencies to work with local authorities Renewables East’s Planning Advisor is also key to our experienced team. Renewables East is also a key partner in many EU projects including the Cambridgeshire LifeStyle Project with its partners in Sweden and Germany. The project’s ‘modern methods of construction’ objective dovetails perfectly with our mission to ensure that buildings in the region are as sustainable and non-fossil fuel reliant as possible.

Although Renewables East is primarily focused on commercial sized technology installations we are working with the Energy Saving Trust Advice Centre Anglia and local authorities. For domestic renewable energy applications these two organisations should be contacted first, they will then signpost individuals to appropriate information and schemes. Renewables East assists these organisations with awareness raising, training and project support.

For more information see www.renewableseast.org.uk and look under the mass market renewables section in the right hand menu.

The Energy Saving Trust can be contacted on 0800 512012.