For media relations enquiries, please contact:
Communications Director:
Kevin Smith
Mobile: 07595 530672
Email: kevin.smith@wren.uk.com
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Media Information
- Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN) Ltd is a not-for-profit company, registered under the Cooperative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 as a registered society.
- WREN helps residents and businesses reduce their energy costs through energy management and generation, and works to produce local economic benefits.
- WREN was launched in January 2011
- WREN has over 1,100 members
- WREN’s principal geographic area of focus encompasses the parishes and wards of Egloshayle, St Breock and Wadebridge, extending out across the Wadebridge and Padstow network area
Background – WREN
- WREN was founded in 2011 by a group of volunteers to bring the benefits of the low carbon economy to the area, as well as help residents and businesses reduce their energy costs. As a social enterprise, owned by its members, all benefits above running costs go to community investment and community projects.
- WREN administers the community funds contributed by St Breock wind farm and Middle Treworder solar farm, distributing £60,000 - £70,000 per year to local voluntary and not-for-profit organisations in the community. In 2020 the St Breock fund included a ‘rapid response’ element for organisations providing services in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, or who had been financially impacted as a direct result of the pandemic.
- WREN has its own £9,000 fund to support environmental and sustainability projects, or projects that aim to inform and educate on environmental and sustainability issues.
- In 2019, WREN began a new project, Energy Equality, funded by RCEF, the Rural Community Energy Fund, to investigate the feasibility of peer-to-peer trading as a means of using community energy to encourage further investment in rooftop solar PV and at the same contribute to alleviating fuel poverty.
- WREN takes an active interest and role in promoting electric vehicles and the provision of public charging points for them.
- In 2015-16, WREN initiated and carried through the Sunshine Tariff Trial with Western Power Distribution (the local network operator), a Network Innovation Allowance project that pioneered time-of-use tariffs to influence electricity demand.
- WREN formed the Wadebridge Energy Company, a not-for-profit company which installed 100kW of solar PV to supply the South West Water Nanstallon sewage treatment works.
- WREN seeks to inform about and facilitate uptake of local and national initiatives and funding for energy.
- WREN has influenced or initiated the installation of 3.4MW of solar PV and 2MW of renewable heat in the Wadebridge area. It helped insulate 160 homes funded by CERT.
Aims
- To share the benefits of Renewable Energy across the whole community
- To add to the quality of life and prosperity of the town
- To reduce the amount of energy we, as a community, use
- To reduce poverty, especially fuel poverty, in our area
- To help explore ways to produce energy using sun, wind, waste & tide
- To put Wadebridge at the cutting edge of renewable technology
- To help Wadebridge produce its own inflation proof, cheaper energy