How we went from an idea on the back of an envelope to Sussex’s largest community energy scheme

In August 2010, I had the opportunity to help build a community organisation, trading in a market place monopolised by the big six energy companies.

This is the story of Brighton Energy Co-op, a tale of perseverance, learning, and community involvement.

Brighton Energy Co-op was conceived in the summer of 2010 by Will Cottrell, after he was left disappointed at the Copenhagen COP15 Climate Conference, “Our world leaders couldn’t come up with a credible plan, so I thought we’d have to”, says Cottrell, Brighton Energy Co-op’s chairman.

“The idea behind Brighton Energy Co-op was to create a groundswell of people who'd all put in a little bit of cash and together raise a substantial sum to install a solar energy scheme. We could use any profits to fund further investment in other community schemes.”

The first challenge was to find people with the energy and skills to set up and run the Co-op.  Damian Tow, with a background in project management and a Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development from Forum for the Future, came on board in August 2010. As did I, bringing my financial expertise and passion to create truly sustainable businesses.  But none of us had any experience of setting up a community owned renewable energy scheme, and we soon found that hardly anyone else did either.

So we built connections across the country with those who had snippets of knowledge to share.  Over the past two years, we have learnt a lot and the Co-op has moved from a concept to a not-for-profit organisation run by an experienced team of people, who are recognised as experts in the field.

The second challenge was finance. 

The plan was for members of the public to buy shares in the Co-op. This money would be used to fund the purchase and installation of three solar arrays on sites around Brighton and Hove.

We had to find the right legal structure that would allow us to raise finance in the community and to ensure profits were used to invest in further community schemes to deliver a cleaner, greener city.  We also wanted a democratic structure, so we chose a Community Benefit Society and registered with Co-operatives UK, thereby committing the Co-op to the Co-operative Principles— we are owned and run by our members giving members an equal say and share of the profits.

Once we had the legal structure in place, we needed finance to get us to the point where we could sell shares to install solar.  The Co-op applied for funding from various grant bodies, but unfortunately in these tough times, we only received £500.  We knew that if the Co-op was to work, we couldn’t rely on grant funding.

So we had to attract investment. A public meeting was held one cold night in December 2010. About 30 people made it through the snow, and of those 30, five became “pioneer” investors, committing £18,000 in total. 

"This showed that the idea had legs — to get investors at this early, risky stage, was both testament to the strength of the idea and the team," says Cottrell. 

This funding enabled the Co-op to secure three sites to install its solar arrays. 

All was set for a share launch in November 2011, the prospectuses were printed, the presentations were prepared, then disaster: four days before the launch the Government changed the rules of the game.  The feed-in-tariff, a 25-year, guaranteed subsidy paid by the Governemnt to renewable energy generators, was cut with only a few weeks notice. Suddenly, the Co-op’s business plan wasn’t viable..

After a series of emergency meetings, the Co-op decided to suspend the share launch. Since then, it has adapted and, helped by the fall in the global price of solar panels and installation costs, which has negated the impacts of the lower feed-in–tariff rates, is now going ahead with the project as planned.

On the 16th May this year, the Co-op held its long-awaited share launch.  It was well attended with both leader of the council Jason Kitcat and Green MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas speaking in support of our scheme. Mike Weatherley, Conservative MP for Hove and Portslade, also stated his support for the scheme, demonstrating the cross-party support that exists for Brighton Energy Co-op’s work.

As I write, £67,000 has been raised toward the £200,000 total, which has enabled the first part of the scheme to begin: the installation of 87kW of solar power at Shoreham Port, which is underway as you read this.

For Cottrell, it’s the culmination of a cherished dream: "It's been a long road but we've learned a huge amount. Asking people to invest their money is a responsibility - and the amounts we are now raising shows our hard work was worthwhile."

For me personally, there have been two key highlights:

First, I’ve helped create an organisation where the social and environmental benefits are just as important as the financial ones.  That’s the reason I’ve bought £400 of shares and provided nearly £5,000 of free work to the Co-op. 

Second, it’s been a fantastic opportunity to work with inspiring people, and together we’ve enabled members of our community to take action — to install renewable energy in our city, which our community owns. 

But the story isn’t over To install solar arrays on the two other sites — St George’s Church, Kemptown and City Coast Church, Portslade, more investment is needed.  If you’d like to find out more about investing, please click here.

By Danni Craker, Craker Business Solutions