Localised energy – opportunity or threat? For use in PowerPoint 2003 Rufus Ford 27 th March 2014

Localised energy – opportunity or threat?For use in PowerPoint 2003Rufus Ford27th March 2014

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Who is SSE?Wholesale

12.8 GW generation capacityGas production and gas storage

Retail~9m customer accounts for energy supplyUK’s 2nd largest M&E contracting business

Networks130,000km electricity lines serving 3.7m buildings50% of SGN, 75,000km gas pipes serving 5.7m buildingsUK’s 4th largest telecoms network

Support national decarbonisation and RE targets

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Community benefit fundsLocal and regionalAdministered in-houseUp to £45m investment by 2020Few strings attached, communities decide how to spend the fundsCan be put towards community energy projects

“Without significant investment from companies like SSE, it is difficult to see how the community energy sector will be able to flourish and grow with the speed necessary to move community action on renewable energy from a niche activity into mainstream delivery.”Peter Capener, Chair of BWCE

Community energy finance model

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Community co-investmentCommunities investing in a proportion of wind farms and taking the same share of the returnsPilot with Melness and Tongue community and Strathy South wind farm

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Drivers and challengesPolitical push – e.g. Community Energy StrategyTrustFinanceCommunity desires

There are ways for us to be involved and we can help...

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Opportunity or threat?Localised energy could be seen as competing with centralised energy and the large energy companiesBut the challenge is enormous, we won’t deliver aloneWe are choosing to see it as an opportunity, and to work with it

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Challenge: do we really need localised electricity?

Thank you

rufus.ford@sse.com