Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN) Ltd
A not-for-profit company engaged in increasing the take up and sharing the benefits of renewable energy in the Wadebridge and Padstow network area. It is led by volunteers on the Board of Directors and has over 1,100 members.
Find out more in A Brief History of WREN
Current Projects
Investigating how to achieve net zero carbon in our community
Investigating new rooftop solar installations and a peer-to-peer energy trading mechanism
Contributed by local commercial wind and solar farms for community projects
Meet the Team!
Board Members
Lena Karsten (Director)
Lena grew up in Germany but moved to the UK many moons ago and now lives near Tintagel. She has been the proud co-owner of a small documentary production and video editing company for nearly two decades but is also a true renewables nerd at heart. After making her own home as close to energy self-sufficient as possible, she decided to delve even deeper into the endless potential of renewables by completing an MBA Renewables programme. She is particularly interested in community-owned renewables and the social benefits renewables can bring to regions like Cornwall.
Simon Miller (Community Engagement Director)
Simon is a tree planting, certified cycling enthusiast/bore. He would love to see more people, young and old utilise this most efficient, healthy and environmentally friendly form of transport. Born and raised in Cornwall, he has spent nearly all of his adult working life as a professional photographer travelling far and wide but now prefers to remain closer to home with his family near Wadebridge. With 3/4 of his home energy usage being generated by the sun having installed solar panels almost 10 years ago, he is keen to promote both the financial and environmental benefits that can made by embracing locally sourced renewable energy.
Kevin Smith (Chair/Treasurer)
Kevin is a physics graduate and qualified accountant. He worked for the international oil company Shell for many years, latterly specialising in process improvement and change management, before retiring to Wadebridge. He joined the board in 2014 as communications director, later taking on the responsibility for finance. Having acquired solar panels, an electric car and a domestic storage battery, he is now contemplating how to better insulate his house.
Victoria Smyth (Director)
Vicky has been a long-term friend of WREN. She first heard of the group back in 2011 when she moved to the Wadebridge area after her Masters in chemistry where her final project investigated new architectures for solar PV technologies. Having worked at the BRE National Solar Centre with our Technical Director, Chris Coonick, she brings a wealth of knowledge on how the feed-in-tariff accelerated PV uptake and has seen the change as policies have shifted over the past decade. Her career has moved into the circular economy, but she remains passionate about grass roots movements to reduce the human impact on the planet. Within her role on the WREN Board she is actively involved in engaging with communities across Cornwall to share insights on effective action within the realm of energy efficiency and system changes. In her spare time Vicky can be found walking, cycling or scuba diving around the Cornish coast.
Ian Welch (Director)
Ian came to Wadebridge in 2014. He is keen to explore community energy and neutralising our environmental impact, and he is excited by the prospect of Wadebridge people benefiting from a local economy built around "energy equality". He is a power engineer, an IET Fellow and Chartered Engineer, having led Innovation at National Grid, and he became a Wadebridge Town Councillor in 2018.
Operations
Leonie McGregor (Company Secretary)
Leonie read Law at the University of Nottingham, practiced as a solicitor in Reading, and has since then held a variety of administrative and related posts.
Tony Faragher (Community Funds Co-ordinator)
Tony has a long-standing interest in environmental issues. Professionally he worked as a manager and service developer with economically and socially excluded people (offenders, substance misuse, mental health) and so is especially interested in the social justice aspects of energy policy. Tony is a former director and chair of WREN.
Our Community Network Area
Despite our name, we are here to help anyone in the Wadebridge & Padstow Community Area
If you live in any of these parishes, please get in touch – we can help you save money and save energy!
- Egloshayle,
- Padstow,
- St Breock,
- St Endellion,
- St Ervan,
- St Eval,
- St Issey,
- St Kew,
- St Mabyn,
- St Merryn,
- St Minver Highlands,
- St Minver Lowlands,
- St Tudy and
- Wadebridge.
We thought you might like to see how renewable energy is contributing to meet UK electricity demand, so here's a display linked to GridWatch.co.uk.