Member Article

Lynne Edwards from Community Energy Solutions (CES) talks to bdaily

“I feel very strongly about Community Energy Solutions – it gives us a real opportunity to make a difference,” said Lynne Edwards, CEO of CES.

Community Energy Solutions (CES) was established through the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to bring affordable energy to those in off-gas communities. Since then it has begun working under a new remit, as a not for profit community interest company.

Lynne has been part of the team since it was founded in 2005, and works closely with local authorities, private landlords and owner-occupiers to promote the use of micro-renewables.

“We are working to stimulate the market and address production costs,” Lynne explains, “its difficult because energy prices are rising and people cannot avoid these costs.”

Renewable and green technologies lie at the heart of the business, and the subject is something Lynne is clearly passionate about. She is now calling for the government to do more to support the change to green energy:

“There is a real appetite for people to switch to renewables, but at the beginning of a new technology there are always extra costs.

“The government needs to kick-start the change by providing incentives for the mass production of wind turbines and solar panels. This in turn will help to improve product design and will really stimulate the market.”

CES works closely with both the ‘able to pay’ and the social housing sector in the region, and is keen to address the issue of fuel poverty, which the DECC predicts will affect more than a fifth of households this winter.

“Fuel poverty really is a moving target,” says Lynne, “ we find that for every measure taken, more and more people are still falling into the trap. Nonetheless, there is lots of drive and opportunity to make changes to the system.”

CES is now working on three distinct brands: GoWarm, GoSolar and GoHeat. The latter, GoHeat is something that Lynne focuses on heavily throughout our conversation:

“The scheme supplies Air Source Heat Pump Products to domestic properties which don’t have access to gas,” she explains. “They are a viable alternative as an energy source, and to date we have installed over a thousand. Our aim now is to make the heat pump as ordinary as the gas pump.”

CES is now working closely with the government on the Green Deal, an initiative that hopes to provide access to energy assessments to every home in the UK.

“We have the skills and processes to support it, so we are now working with communities to reduce fuel bills and cut carbon emissions.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .