•Communities installing own clean power supply bring down bills and boost local finances

•OVO joins Bristol led community project in a new partnership, with residents receiving half price electricity on windy days

•Households could save up to £100 on their energy bills at the same time as more renewable energy is being used by the grid

•Poll reveals 7 in 10 people would support local wind or solar projects to help cut energy bills for their community

•Turbine shows the potential of locally-led projects and the urgent need for the government to cut planning delays of renewable projects

London 3 April, 2024: A new partnership between a community-owned wind turbine and energy supplier OVO highlights how community energy projects could transform and secure the UK’s energy supply, as 7 in 10 people say they’d support a local wind or solar project if it meant cheaper energy for their community.

Locally led energy projects can provide significant financial benefits for local communities, while contributing to the national renewable energy mix.

The Ambition Community Energy (ACE) turbine is entirely owned by the Lawrence Weston community in Bristol. Energy generated by the turbine is sold to the national grid - creating around £100,000 a year in revenue for the local area.

In a unique partnership, OVO is stepping in to manage the energy produced and help residents that are OVO customers receive half price electricity on windy days in return for the additional renewable energy supply going into the grid. Residents of Lawrence Weston stand to save up to £100 off their bills over the course of the trial.

OVO believes partnerships like this are an important step in demonstrating how community energy projects are an essential component of the UK’s energy supply going forward. As of 2021, community-owned energy made up 331 MW of energy capacity in the UK - enough to power 174,000 homes. Energy suppliers can help to increase this number by encouraging communities to undertake projects like the ACE turbine by offering discounted electricity.

The ACE turbine, which will generate enough power for 3,000 homes and save an estimated 87,600 tonnes of carbon over its lifetime, took eight years to build due to issues with planning permissions and a lack of financial support for communities to generate their own power. The Bristol turbine shows the potential of community-led projects and the urgent need for the government to cut planning delays of renewable projects and speed up the connection of renewable energy to the national grid.

Obstructive planning laws resulted in zero applications made to develop onshore wind projects in England last year, compared to 46 in Scotland. With the UK government’s commitment to decarbonising the electricity system by 2035, it is important that these planning obstacles are addressed quickly, as they are impacting the ability for more renewable energy to be added to the UK’s energy supply.

The money generated through the Bristol turbine will be reinvested into community projects, including a new renewable energy skills training centre and a crisis fund to help local families trapped in fuel poverty.

The partnership works by forecasting very windy days, when the turbine will be generating plenty of electricity. From 1 April, people living in Lawrence Weston will be alerted by text message that a Windy Day is taking place and encouraged to use energy on this day. They will then be rewarded with Community Power Credits to their account to deduct money off their bills. It is open to all OVO customers with a smart meter in the BS11 postcode area.

Susie Leppard, Head of Renewable Energy at OVO, said:

“We are joining up with a community-owned energy project to help bring bills down. We believe initiatives like this are a vital way for people to access cheaper, greener energy on the grid. If we want to encourage more projects like this, however, the current complex planning laws need to be reformed and we need to enable faster connections to the energy system.”

Mark Pepper, from Ambition Community Energy said:

“This partnership with OVO is a great step forwards in enabling local OVO customers to benefit from lower energy costs. We hope it also shows the power that community projects like ours can have in contributing to a cleaner and greener energy ecosystem.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

Polling:

Strand Partners’ specialist research team surveyed 1,002 members of the UK general public between 04.03.24 - 05.03.24 online. The survey was representative by age, gender and NUTs 1 region.

About OVO

In 2009, OVO was born to make energy better for people and the planet. Today, OVO is trusted by around four million customers with their home energy, EV charging, green tech upgrades, and more.

OVO is getting the UK ready for a greener, fairer future – planting one million trees a year and supporting new renewable power projects in communities across the country. Not only is OVO bringing low carbon tech into homes, it’s finding smart ways to cut costs for customers – making heat pumps, solar panels, and electric cars more accessible. Behind all this work is Plan Zero: the bold, science-backed sustainability strategy, which sets out how OVO will become a true net zero business by 2035.

This progress can only happen with a culture fit for the future. OVO’s multiple awards include the Best Place to Work for Women in The Sunday Times’ Best Places to Work 2023, which also saw the company coming in the Top 10 for Very Big Organisation.

OVO also won Company of the Decade at the BusinessGreen Leaders’ Awards 2020.

OVO key facts

•UK Customers: four million

•People: 5,000 colleagues with sites in London, Bristol and Glasgow.

•Customer service

oOver 100,000 5* reviews on Trustpilot.

o£90m support offered to customers in need since 2022.

•Rewarding customers

oCharge Anytime: £6.2 million saved to date by customers.

oSolar and heat pumps: Over 1,000 heat pumps installed and over 450 solar systems installed in UK homes.

oSupporting low income homes: Over 10,000 homes made more efficient through OVO Energy Solutions retrofit schemes, with £2.70m in annual bill savings across them all, and £70.30m in lifetime bill savings.

oWorld leading trials: 320+ OVO customer trialists on the world’s first and largest domestic vehicle-to-grid trial, run by us.

oRewarding trials: Over £1 million in credit through Power Move, for using energy at greener times – saving 56.2 tonnes of carbon.

oExpert advice: Over 4,000 home visits completed by OVO’s Energy Experts, giving customers one-to-one guidance on making their home more efficient.

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