Birch Vale Community Energy

Not for profit and volunteer led, Birch Vale CIC is developing a support mechanism and will introduce a range of measures to help encourage a strong, resilient local energy system. Providing low cost, clean power and heat across the community.

Could you help us work towards net zero?

What is community Energy

Climate change, rising energy prices, economic austerity, dwindling social cohesion – the world faces a number of challenges that can often seem depressing and intractable. Scratch the surface, however, and there are plenty of seeds of hope. Across the UK and wider world, people are coming together with their neighbours and showing that, with a bit of dedication and community spirit, it’s possible for people to make real progress on a whole range of big issues.  The beauty of community energy projects is that they can help deal with so many problems at once, making a difference at the local and global levels simultaneously. This is our aim for Birch Vale, bringing back power to the people... as well as some heat.

More details
  • An effective way to make a real difference

    Community-scale energy projects enable proactive citizens to make the biggest possible difference.  Projects can often be innovative, substantial enough to be noticed and have the potential to be duplicated in other areas of the UK and wider world.

  • Localising energy

    Community energy projects are a great way to both speed up and scale up the rollout of small and medium scale renewable technologies. Technologies can be designed around location, demand and preference.  Gains due to reductions in distribution and transmission losses can be passed through to local energy customers and the wider community.

  • Clean heat and power

    We are working towards a joined up approach to understanding  our energy use. As well as power, we are looking at heat and transport so the community can make a real impact.

  • Energy security

    To insure ourselves against future shortages of fossil fuels and potential problems due to legacy transmission and distribution.

  • Reduce fuel poverty

    The share of households experiencing fuel poverty was predicted to fall to 12.5% in 2021 yet the economic effects from Covid 19 are yet unknown. New UK objectives have been set to target as many fuel poor households as reasonably practicable to achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of band C’ by 2030.

Potential Technologies for Birch Vale

towards meeting an estimated, collective demand profile of 800 MWh of electricty and just over 1 GWh for heat each year

Solar PV



The cost of installing solar pv systems has reduced significantly.  With the use of some storage  we are aiming to install a further 400KW of cells in Birch Vale .  This will be a mix of ground and roof mounted systems.

New panel designs and innovative mounting systems allow panels to be better integrated within roofs

 

Combined heat and power (CHP)

Larger scale opportunities lie on the western boundary of Birch Vale.  We are investigating the feasibility of capturing  heat energy derived from sustainable sources. Utilising a heat exchanger and a closed loop organic rankine cycle engine, the system will produce power and heat with high efficiency and minimal operational cost.

Electric vehicles



As we come out of lockdown, electric vehicles will have an important part to play in reducing emissions from transport and helping the UK reach its net zero targets. Battery electric vehicles are 100% electric vehicles that don’t produce exhaust emissions. We are seeking views on where to place community chargepoints - if you have any suggestions -

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Heat pumps

 Devices that provide heat energy transferred from a source of heat or warmth, to a destination called a heat sink, effectively ‘pumping‘ warmth from one place to another.  We have a few options for Birch Vale include medium scale water sourced and ground source.  On a smaller scale we are assessing ground source and air source.

Biomass

Biomass is a renewable energy source, generated from burning wood, plants and other organic matter.  We consider biomass a renewable energy source, if the plants or other organic materials being burned are replaced.

An opportunity to coppice, currently unmanaged woodland could provide a percentage of fuel, the remainder being sought from those involved in arboricultural activities across High Peak.

District heat networks

It’s all about taking energy released as heat from a varied range of energy sources, and connecting to energy consumers through a system of highly insulated pipes.

Our phase 1 feasibility study will assess DHN to identify if this new distribution system would be suitable for Birch Vale.

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