Thank you so much to our speakers and everyone who joined us last week for CEL’s 2024 annual conference.We had a great afternoon of questions, discussion and peer-to-peer learning. Please find below our agenda, aims, slideshow presentation and link to our live-tweeted thread.

Community Energy London’s (CEL) Annual Conference 2024 was held in partnership with the London Borough of Hackney and aimed to:

  • Examine how greater collaboration between councils and community groups can help accelerate the deployment of local renewable and energy efficiency projects,

  • Explore best practice examples of how and where such collaboration is taking place

  • Identify routes on how to scale up municipal and community energy partnerships

  • Help ensure that the full benefits of such partnerships can flow directly back into local communities to cut bills, and create a more decentralised energy system, with more local generation and ownership, to create a more resilient energy system

  • Determine the most effective policies Government could introduce to help support the delivery of local energy action

  • Achieve CEL’s Vision for Community Energy in London, increasing the number of projects by four-fold to 1,000 projects across the capital by 2030.

The Future of Community Energy featured policymakers, practitioners and users to set out an agenda for future collaboration between councils and community energy groups.

The new Labour Government has set out in its Local Power Plan that one of its three initial priorities for GB Energy will be to Scale up municipal and community energy where GB Energy will partner with energy companies, local authorities and cooperatives to develop 8GWs small-scale and medium-scale community energy projects. Labour has also pledged to allocate resources to support local power in partnership with communities, where GB Energy will make available up to £600m in funding for local authorities and up to £400m low-interest loans each year for communities.

AGENDA:

2pm – 3pm

1. Councils + Community Energy Collaboration 

  • Chair: Syed Ahmed, Chair, Community Energy London (CEL)
  • Speakers:
    • Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE, Newham Council
    • Councillor Mete Coban MBE, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, Hackney Council
    • Dr Austin Entonu MBE, Head of Energy, Greater London Authority (GLA)
    • Josh Barnes, Policy & Advocacy Officer, Community Energy England
  • Q&A 

3pm – 4.15pm

2. Chair: Syed Ahmed, CEL

  • Speaker: Eliza Stuart, Co-Chair, London Councils Community Energy Workstream, Newham Council
  • Community Energy Neighbourhoods – Roundtable session
    • Introduction & Facilitator Dave Powis, Home Energy Action Lab (HEAL) 
    • Sara Edmonds, National Retrofit Hub (NRH) – national and systemic context of retrofit
      • Workshop (30 mins)
    • Facilitators’ Feedback Plenary 

4.15pm – 4.30pm Break

4.30pm – 4.40pm Mayor of Hackney, Caroline Woodley and Hackney Community Energy Fund Short Film

4.40pm – 5.30 pm

3. Engaging Londoners on community energy

  • Chair:  Nadia Smith, En10ergy 
  • Speakers: 
    • Eva Goudouneix, Repowering London
    • Tom Campbell, Stokey Energy
    • Toby Costin, CREW
  • Q&A

5.30 pm Close

CEL held this event in partnership with Hackney Council who have undertaken significant work over the past two years to support community energy action across the borough. For more information on Hackney’s Community Energy Fund click here.

Access the conference slide presentation here
Check out our live-tweeted thread here
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