Pete Bailey, 69, provides 17 households with electricity from his 50kw turbine, which is located in Salwayash near Bridport, Dorset.

Retired engineer supplies households with cheaper green energy

Pete Bailey, a retired engineer known as “Windy Pete” by local people, has become the first person in England to supply renewable energy to his local community from his own private wind turbine.

Windy Pete’s private turbine powers up the neighbours

Founder of Energy Local, Mary is an applied physicist by training but her career has been as an engineer. She enjoys working with science and people to make our society and environment better for everyone. 

After gaining a first class masters in applied physics from the University of Edinburgh and her PhD at the University of Strathclyde, she has managed, led or been a team member in high profile technical innovative energy projects from a few thousand to millions of pounds.

Her main area of expertise is the development of smartgrids for the electricity distribution system to increase efficiency and to easily integrate renewable generation. Notably she lead Low Carbon Network Fund (LCNF) ‘Smart Village project’ working with Ashton Hayes, been technical engineer for LCNF Customer Lead Network Revolution and My Electric Avenue. She managed Ashton Hayes Low Carbon Communities Challenge (LCCC) Project and Local Energy Assessment Fund project and worked on Elexon funded investigations in local energy markets.

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Energy Local-press release.pdf

Dr Mary Gillie

The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, is supporting Energy Local over the next three years. Energy Local allows community customers to create a local market for nearby renewable energy schemes. As everyone seeks to decarbonise and protect their communities from rising energy prices and volatile global power prices, this initiative will give households the helping hand they urgently need. Thanks to National Lottery players, Energy Local CIC has successfully applied for a grant of £400,000 to expand and roll out the model across Britain. The Energy Local model makes power truly local, benefiting local communities’ economies whilst decarbonising the power system.&nbsp; Usually, renewable generators (including generators belonging to community-owned schemes) sell their electricity to a power company at a low price. Meanwhile, nearby households are paying standard rates to use it. In an Energy Local club, if members use the power from local, green generators when they are operating, they pay a lower rate, compared to a domestic price, while the generator gets a better income. Club members are alerted when the green power is abundant so they can optimise their use of low-carbon electricity. This brings the energy market into the local economy whilst tackling fuel poverty and decarbonisation. Energy Local CIC supports communities to create their own Energy Clubs, an energy ecosystem. Each club is locally organised and run, but with the ‘back end’ supplied by the team at Energy Local CIC. These in turn support the rest of the community infrastructure and economy.&nbsp; In Bethesda, pioneering residents are benefiting from lower price when they use their local hydro plant. They have now been joined by Energy Local Clubs in Corwen, Crickhowell and Machynlleth, local solar clubs in Llandysul and Brixton and wind in Bridport. These are demonstrating what the zero-carbon electricity supply of the future could be. “The power never goes off, local generation is automatically and seamlessly ‘topped up’ by their normal electricity supplier when necessary,” says Energy Local’s Director, Mary Gillie. “This extra power is priced at three rates during the day to encourage the club members to use it when it’s cheapest and greenest. It encourages the use of local electricity wires in an efficient way too. It’s an all-round win – more, cheaper local power, along with reduced carbon. At a time of rising energy prices, Energy Local gives people a degree of shelter from global energy price volatility and a degree of control over power costs.”&nbsp; “It has been a long road to get here. We are grateful for the huge patience that our fledgling clubs have had shown. We are now ready to take the benefits to more areas and it will be great to work with The National Lottery Community Fund on this.” Energy Local is working to find a balance of providing increased income to renewables, a practical means for households to help reduce carbon whilst reducing their bills, but also maintain the customer support and benefits of the national license energy suppliers. John Rose, Wales Director at The National Lottery Community Fund, said, “We believe that community action is a powerful way to engage people to play their part locally in addressing global environmental problems, and to protect the climate for future generations.&nbsp; “By taking climate action we are not only making significant environmental improvements, but also helping people and communities thrive, as demonstrated by the great work Energy Local is doing. We are delighted that what started here in Wales by this group can now expand further and roll out to more areas across Wales, England and Scotland, thanks to National Lottery players.” The door is now open for more clubs to go ‘live’, and for the model to be rolled out further. The model has benefits all round. It can help unlock a huge amount more local, especially community-owned, renewable generation by providing a long-term income. It supports local economies, nudges people to use low-carbon power and helps run our electricity system more efficiently. It’s a step towards the electricity market everyone needs to achieve zero-carbon. &nbsp;<blockquote>This grant validates the amazing work we're doing at a time when everyone is feeling the pinch and worrying about climate change. Energy Local gives the power back to the community, we're ready and excited to help more communities.</blockquote>

Amy Charnley-Parry

Energy Local Receives £400,000 Grant to Expand Across UK

Founder of Energy Local, Mary is an applied physicist by training but her career has been as an engineer. She enjoys working with science and people to make our society and environment better for everyone. After gaining a first class masters in applied physics from the University of Edinburgh and her PhD at the University of Strathclyde, she has managed, led or been a team member in high profile technical innovative energy projects from a few thousand to millions of pounds. Her main area of…

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Dr Mary Gillie

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