MEDIA RELEASE 13 March 2015

Community Energy Feast

12 local groups met in Exeter tonight for a locally-sourced dinner using food from producers using renewable energy

Regen SW, a centre for sustainable energy expertise based in Exeter, tonight hosted a community energy feast to celebrate the volunteers and groups working tirelessly to establish community energy projects in the region. These projects are being set up to benefit local communities and generate income to make them more vibrant and sustainable places to live.

The evening’s food was prepared by the Pickle Shack – which is dedicated to using only the freshest, yummiest, local ingredients – and for this meal they sourced food from farms and suppliers using renewable energy. The invitation-only event was part of Regen’s Community Energy Accelerator project funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Devon County Council. The community groups attending had all taken part in a series of training events over the last three months to learn about legal structures, engagement and publicity, business models, share offers and writing tender specifications, and many have benefited from grant funding to further their community energy projects.

Jodie Giles, senior project manager at Regen SW said: “This was a tremendously exciting event, which gave us a chance to thank the volunteers and local groups who put so much of their own time and energy into doing something really valuable for their own communities.  Pickle Shack’s menu was outstanding, and we were thoroughly entertained Regen’s poet in residence Matt Harvey”.

Devon County Councillor Roger Croad, Cabinet Member for Community and Environmental Services sad: “Over £300m and £400m is spent on energy in the north and south of Devon respectively, all of which disappears out of the local economy. Continuing our support to community energy groups will help build firm foundations for communities to work together to generate their own energy.”

There will be more events happening with this network including Social Media training on 17 March, and site visits to local renewable energy projects on 24March.

You can find more information about this project by contacting Jodie Giles jgiles@regensw.co.uk

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Notes to editors
About Regen SW
Regen SW is a not for profit company working to enable business, local authorities and other organisations to deliver renewable energy and energy efficiency and build a prosperous low-carbon economy in the south west of England. www.regensw.co.uk

Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon excluding Plymouth and Torbay. The county’s contribution to the Community Accelerator Project follows the successful SEACS (http://en.seacs.eu) project that provided support to communities and schools on energy issues between 2011 and 2014, joint-funded by the EU Interreg IVA programme.

For further information and interviews
Please contact Jodie Sawatzki, Regen SW on 01392 494 399 or jsawatzki@regensw.co.uk