‘COMMUNITY owned for community benefit’ was the tag line for the Energy Analysis event held on Thursday, April 7, in the White Hart Hotel, Holsworthy.

Energy consultants have carried out a ‘light touch’ technical assessment of Holsworthy and will be producing a report for the town council and Devon County Council.

The initial findings suggested that on average Holsworthy has a household energy spend, per annum, of £1.5-million.

At the event on Thursday, April 7, the public was given the opportunity to come along and have their say on the types of projects they would like to see implemented in Holsworthy.

The idea behind the event was for the Energy Analysis team to establish what types of projects the community would be interested in getting involved with and what they felt would fit in with Holsworthy to cater to the town’s needs.

Although there was a low turn out to the event, a few members of the public voiced concerns over some of the options available to Holsworthy.

The presentation given by Energy Analysis set out five key advantages of the community renewable energy scheme; it strengthens local economy, reduces local energy costs, there are social and environmental benefits, it can provide funding for other initiatives and feed into a ‘Community Fund’, and can create more independent and resilient communities.

The options available include: wind power, solar PV, hydropower and wood chip boilers among other renewable schemes.

One major sticking point for those who attended the meeting was the suggestion of the viability of having a wind turbine on the industrial estate in Holsworthy.

It was quoted at the meeting that a 50kw wind turbine would cost £1-million — although this would not be an achievable target for a town to raise, there was suggestions of the possibility for locals to invest and buy shares before the opportunity to invest was opened up to the wider community.

Although only a suggestion of the many possible renewable energy systems that Holsworthy could implement under this scheme, the idea of having a turbine so close to town was not met with open arms.

Ben Eardley, senior consultant for Energy Analysis, suggested that for a greater financial gain, wind power was a good way to go, he said: “I’m not pushing wind but if the town wants to generate a large amount of money, which could possibly then be used to fund other projects in the town, then renewable wind energy is the way to go.”

Deputy mayor, Cllr Hutchings, who was in attendance, said: “I think you would get a riot if you tried to place a wind turbine in the town.”

One member of the public informed the Energy Analysis team that there were very few venues in Holsworthy that would be available for many of their heat schemes.

Holsworthy Leisure Centre is owned by Torridge District Council and has already had a new oil boiler installed to heat the pool. The local school have also recently benefitted from an assessment of their heating system and subsequently had four different systems installed.

Ben said: “Our initial feasibility study for Holsworthy did suggest that electricity is better to aim for because heat is already sorted.”

The first stage of the feasibility study, was funded by a £20,000 grant.

If the community want to progress with a scheme and create their own community owned energy projects then a loan of up to £130,000 can be applied for from the Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) for stage 2.

A member of the public suggested getting in contact with local businesses to see whether they would be interested in getting involved with any plans that are put forward at a later date.

The public in attendance requested that the Energy Analysis team come back at a later date with more details of what would be involved if they did undertake one of the projects suggested by them.

Ben suggested they would like to set up some working groups in the near future and begin to get the ball rolling with more detailed ideas of the types of projects the community would like to undertake.

Cllr Hutchings concluded the meeting, he said: “At the end of the day we can’t say it isn’t a good idea, we just need to know more about what will be involved.”