In July, just prior to the Interregional Cooperation Event in Firenze, staff from Durham County Council’s LOCARBO project attended a conference in Manchester run by Community Energy England, where they shared their experiences with other individuals and agencies from across the country.
Over 200 delegates were in attendance at Manchester University on Saturday 23rd June 2018. Helen Grayshan and Dorothy Gibson staffed the LOCARBO project stand with information about the project and leaflets to take away.
LOCARBO project was showcased to a range of delegates from community owned and cooperative renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, as well as other UK partners in Interreg projects, namely Olly Frankland of Regen SW, working on the SET-UP project.
Keynote speaker was Patrick Allcorn, Head of Local Energy, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in the UK Government. Also speaking were: Emma Bridge - Chief Executive, Community Energy England; Steve Cox - Engineering and Technical Director, Electricity North West; Hector Cruz - Chief Financial Officer, Co-op Energy; and Dr Carly McLachlan & Dr Tim Braunholtz-Speight - Director & Researcher, Tyndall Centre at Manchester University.
"Exhibitors and attendees were interested to find out what good practices Durham and its transnational partners had developed. Hearing from those who are facing similar challenges around energy efficiency is very useful and we have certainly taken away a lot of good ideas which could be used here in County Durham," said Helen Grayshan, LOCARBO project officer at Durham County Council.
Maggie Bosanquet, team leader for the low carbon economy team, said: "This is a very exciting time for Durham as we are involved in game-changing work on renewable energy and energy efficiency across all sectors. We are always keen to share the great work we are doing with our partners and to share that across the UK."
Community Energy England was established in 2014 as a not for profit organisation, set up to provide a voice for the community energy sector and help create the conditions within which community energy can flourish.
