Forest Community Energy (FCE) and the AURORA Forest of Dean team organised and hosted an exciting event in October with Octopus Energy – one of the UK’s largest energy suppliers, serving 6.8 million households.
Helen Jeffrey, an FCE member, connected with Octopus via X, which resulted in organising a visit from Jack Richardson (Head of Policy) and Nako Thompson (Strategy Lead) from Octopus Energy to the Forest of Dean. The purpose of the visit was to learn about what is happening on community energy from the Forest of Dean and surrounding areas to help shape their new Electrify Britain campaign.
The event was preceded by a tour of the Forest of Dean where the visitors learned about the challenges and opportunities for community energy in a rural area. The tour included visiting a local householder living in a typical Forest listed building, and a visit to see the sites of the two solar PV arrays that the AURORA project is progressing in Lydney.
The event itself, which was attended by over 20 people (including local residents and council staff), began with an overview of the AURORA project followed by talks from three community energy initiatives: Forest Community Energy, Gwent Energy CIC and Gloucestershire Community Energy Cooperative. Octopus Energy then introduced the Electrify Britain initiative launched by EDF and Octopus Energy to tackle the “Energy Trilemma” by driving the widespread electrification of the UK.
To help shape the initiative, Octopus wanted to understand what the challenges and opportunities were for community energy in the UK – and in a rural location like the Forest of Dean. They posed the following questions/challenges for attendees to discuss in groups:
- If the next village was setting up a community energy project, what would you recommend/warn them against?
The participants recommended focusing on simple and feasible projects, as well as engaging interested individuals in the community early on.
- If you were given £500k to set up a community energy project, what would you do?
The participants recommended developing infrastructure for electric vehicles and encouraging businesses to lease space for solar installations and establishing a maintenance team for solar and heat pumps. They also wanted to explore the feasibility of harnessing energy from geothermal sources using the old mines in the Forest, as well as set up a revolving fund for small-scale solar projects in the Forest of Dean.
“Participating in the Forest of Dean community energy event showed us how communities can be the building blocks to decentralised clean generation and engagement in the energy transition. These communities are helping our energy system by creating and consuming local power, and we believe they should see the benefits for doing so. It was an absolute privilege to tour the beautiful forest and learn from the dedicated residents” – Nako Thompson, Strategy Lead at Octopus Energy.
The event and tour were filmed by Climate Centre UK, an organisation who create content that drives interest and coverage of key climate and environment stories and speakers. They made a short video about community energy in the Forest of Dean, which you can watch here:
“It was a huge boost to FCE to have Octopus Energy, and the Climate Centre UK spend so much of their time understanding the unique communities, challenges, and opportunities of the Forest of Dean. The tour was a great success, hearing from a variety of local voices and seeing at first hand some of the issues we face here. The evening meeting brought together a larger and wider group of people, with new connections and conversations happening as a result. I have come away with a renewed sense of optimism and determination knowing that Electrify Britain will have support for community energy within its remit, and that Octopus Energy is actively pushing for changes in policy that will make electrification a more financially attractive option for homes and businesses.” – Helen Jeffrey, FCE volunteer.
