Is anyone using Energy Local?
In particular any experience of this: "If a home in the Local Club has solar PV on the property, then in theory they could also share that energy with the rest of the Club, too – any surplus solar energy gets shared with other members, and the house that generates it gets paid a higher rate for exporting to locals."
Thanks
Hi Gribinlsaf,
It's a really interesting question. I haven't heard of this Local Club' (as you put it) and it looks like you may have copied and pasted it from somewhere. I'm too lazy to google it now as I have to be up early tomorrow, so hope you'll be able to cast some light on where it came from.
I wondered about sticking an extension lead to the neighbour when he's mowing his lawn and the sunshine is out, and telling him I'll charge him 50p rather than the £2 that many will be paying for pulling 2kW for a couple of hours. As I've neighbours on each side and one at the back of the garden too, I should be coining it in!
I only discovered the "Energy Local" thing yesterday - and by by evening I had joined our local "Club" (Yes, they call them that.
Basically it it a set up where small scale generators (in our case an anaerobic digester) rather then selling their output to the grid can sell it to the Club for a couple of pence more. Then anyone on the same substation can buy in to that electricity. It is backed by Octopus and will have the facility for members to add in their excess PV.
Our local tariff is: 7am-4pm 15.75p, 4pm to 8pm 17.85p 8pm to 7am 12.6p - guaranteed to April 2023.
By definition these Clubs only cover a small area and there are not many of them (see Energy Local website) and they are mainly in Wales but it looks like an interesting model which might spread.
There's no Energy Local Club in my area (West Midlands/South Staffs) but I've registered with the organisation to indicate my interest.
I suppose the more of us who generate, store with batteries (I don't have an EV and think that they are too expensive at the moment) and still have excess to export at this time of year, who register interest, the more likely this will get going and benefit our own localities.
Link is here energylocal.org.uk
AlanStevens Yes, the "Clubs" are very limited in number at present but it seems a very interesting model of generation/use. It was only accidently I found out that we live in the area of one scheme. The over-arching organisation does seem keen on expanding where possible.
Since registering my interest with the Energy Local, I have attended an introductory Zoom meeting with them.
This is their website link:- https://energylocal.org.uk/
How does Energy Local work?
- Households and small scale renewable generators, as members, form an Energy Local Club (ELC) -legally a Coop.
- Households have smart energy meters installed to show when and how much power they were using.
- Members (households and generators) agree a price (“match tariff”) that will be paid to the generator when they match their electricity use to when electricity is generated locally, for example, turning their washing machine on when they know the local Hydro scheme is working at full pelt.
- The Club chooses a partner energy supplier (such as Octopus Energy or Green Energy) that sells the extra power they need when there is not enough local electricity generated. The supplier sends each household the bill for their total power use.
As I understand it, there needs to be a large-scale generator connected via 3 phase supply and on the same substation as the consumers and small-scale generators (like me with 16 panels and 3.65Kw). In my area I have identified that the local library has 126 panels on 2 of their flat roofs and so might be/should be a major exporter.
I shall try and find out what the politics are, as Staffs or South Staffs Council invested in solar PV on 20 of their civic buildings 10 years ago (the local library has generated 258039KWh in that time, compared with 31071 that I have generated over a similar time) and are likely to have some sort of internal "club" of their own so that they consume all their own energy production and none will be available for a local energy club. The other possibility is that every so often they will need to (re)negotiate with an energy company export and import tariffs. It is at that time that they could get involved with an Energy Local club and get paid more for their export than they currently do. I can't imagine that my local library could use all the export that they produce on a good day. 🙂