PASSIONATE ABOUT COMMUNITY RENEWABLE ENERGY

Who we are

Would you like to come and visit our Solar Park?

CHARITABLE

The co-operative intends to make an annual contribution to local charitable organisations.

WORKING TOGETHER

Ownership should be equitable – each member has the same number of votes at each year’s AGM

COMMUNITY

We believe it is right that the community share in the benefits of a significant local project

The Members

Westmill Solar Co-operative has over 1,500 members who are passionate about the future of community renewable energy.

Leadership & Management

A board of directors leads the Co-operative.  The board is appointed by the members from the members.  For day-to-day management the board have appointed RINA to manage the Solar Park, Energy4All Limited to manage the Co-operative and provide shareholder registrar services and Ethex to provide bondholder registrar services.

Meet The Team

Tom Parkinson

Chair & Director

Tom works as a consultant in the renewable energy sector

 

More About Tom

Mark Luntley

Director

Mark is also the Chair of Westmill Wind Farm Co-op

 

More About Mark

Julia Spragg

Director

Julia is active in community and environmental issues

 

More About Julia

Mairi Brookes

Director

Mairi has both a  Masters in Physics and Environmental Technology

 

More About Mairi

Joe Michaels

Director

Joe has twenty years experience in running and managing businesses

More About Joe

Andrew Crawford

Director

Andrew is a Vale of White Horse District Councillor and is a cabinet member for Finance

More About Andrew

Angela Bryant

Director

Angela has developed an expertise in effective online and digital marketing in the not-for-profit sector

More About Angela

Sarah Flood

Company Secretary

Creating positive social and environmental impact has been at the heart of Sarah’s career for 25 years

More About Sarah

Adam Twine

Adam Twine dreamt up the Westmill project and farms the land where Westmill is based. He is an organic farmer and has farmed 1,200 acres at Westmill farm and as a tenant of the National Trust at Colleymore farm for over 25 years. Adam set up the Farm Carbon Cutting Toolkit, a not for profit information sharing organisation, to engage with farmers about climate change and actions to reduce GHG emissions from farms. He was one of the driving forces behind Westmill Wind Farm for many years and a Founding Director of Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative Limited in 2004. He has been active in environmental and social justice campaigning for many years and was the 2007 recipient of the Schumacher award.

Aims

The aims of the project are to combat climate change by financing a reliable source of renewable energy, provide local people and other investors with a stable, reliable source of income, and help the area transition to a low carbon future economy.

The project generates 4.8 GWh per year of clean electricity, enough to power 1,400 homes. That’s equivalent to every home in Watchfield & Shrivenham.

Reducing our Carbon Footprint

Carbon dioxide emission reductions of 2 thousand tonnes per year are also projected from the project. If you pumped this amount of carbon dioxide into a swimming pool you would need one big enough to contain the equivalent of over 3 million gallons of water!

Benefitting the Local Community

As well as offering local people the opportunity to share in the direct rewards of the project, the solar farm provides a number of associated benefits for the area. These include boosting the local economy by making sure the profits stay in the area, encouraging visitors and raising the local area’s profile.

Research shows that community owned renewable energy projects deliver a host of benefits over conventional industry owned projects, and we believe it is right that the community share in the benefits of a significant local project – therefore we made it as easy as possible for as many people as possible, from as wide a range of backgrounds as possible, to invest. We also believe ownership should be equitable – so no matter the level of investment, each member has the same number of votes at each year’s AGM (though there is no obligation to take part in these).

As part of this community commitment the co-operative intends to make an annual contribution to a community fund, like WeSET (Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust), a local charitable organisation.

Community-owned renewable energy projects are not new, but Westmill solar is the first such solar park project. Community energy schemes are widespread in Europe, and in Germany 25% of all renewable energy is owned by community projects. A similar proportion is community owned in Denmark, and both countries have a larger share of renewable energy generation than in the UK. For example, in Denmark almost each town or village has its own community owned renewable energy project, including an 82 MW offshore wind farm that is cooperatively owned.

In this country, pioneer projects such as Westmill wind farm (located next to the solar park) have shown that the model is successful here too and creates numerous benefits for investors and communities. In the UK, most such schemes have mostly been wind farms. Westmill Solar has taken this model into a new technology by creating the country’s first, and the world’s largest, community-owned solar farm.