Our Story

Burneside Community Energy is an inspiring example of the potential synergy between a large public limited company (the paper mill James Cropper PLC) and the local community in Burneside. Both were brought together by a joint vision to reduce carbon emissions and to secure a sustainable source of income to enable further energy-related projects which benefit residents.

The idea was born following a Parish Plan in 2015 called ‘The Vision’, in which ‘energy’ was a topic of ambitious focus for the village. Three people set up a community benefit society; long term resident and Parish Councillor Tony Hill, Phil Davies, and Mark Cropper who was able to provide his expertise on renewables and connect us to James Cropper PLC.

This allowed us to build a good relationship with the company, and led to them offering a 20-year lease and agreement to buy all of the energy generated by BCE. We have never sought public funding for our solar projects; excellent resources and inspiration has been found through Community Energy England’s website and through its helpful officers.

Whilst the Parish Vision provided the community’s mandate for the initiative, there is far more that we plan to do with and for the community. With over 150 local members, we plan to spread awareness and the benefits of BCE much wider to every household in the community.

The Challenge

The key to BCE’s development and success, was done to an agile approach to decision making by the board, the nurturing of a trusted relationship and James Cropper PLC and the willingness of the volunteer board to commit their free time to carry out the necessary project management.

The project was very much like running a business; with nearly £800,000 of members’ investment, it comes with considerable responsibility to it was vital that we had the right people on board with the right intentions. Hiring a part time administrator was certainly helpful and saved us a lot of time throughout the project.

We faced initial teething problems following the initial installation of the The PV system, which tripped on multiple occasions, meaning a lot of time was spent fixing the issues.

Our Solution

Not only has the project seen significant carbon savings made, it has also lead to further community cohesion and benefits. Nearly 1MW of solar PV installed over three phases is now saving nearly 300 tonnes of carbon each year.

Surplus income has been used to decarbonise the local primary school, whilst other funds have been used to fun a Bike4Burneside cycling festival. What’s more, BCE is broadening horizons beyond the original solar project, and has further initiatives in the pipeline. Upcoming projects include supporting the village allotment society and to run a thermal imaging and home energy improvement project throughout the community in 2022.

BCE has also carried out research into installing a district heat network throughout the village and more recently it has undertaken a huge project to investigate whether new residential development planned for the village could use community energy to heat and power all of the low carbon homes.

Funding has been greatly received form Electricity North West, the Rural Community Energy Fund and Power to Change. Most recently, a small grant from South Lakeland Council has enabled BCE to run some low-carbon community projects, engaging with residents on cycling and home energy programmes.

Find out more?

To find out more about the Burneside Community Energy project, head to www.bce.org.uk