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Image: Octopus Renewables. A joint venture aimed at breaking down barriers preventing community energy projects from coming on-stream has been relaunched by Octopus Energy and the Midcounties Co-operative. Younity - which was previously known as Co-op Community Energy - already has partnerships with 100 community generators, with the renewable energy from these partnerships powering the ‘Your Co-op Energy’s Community Power’ tariff, which was launched in January 2020 as the only tariff in the UK to come solely from community power projects. The joint venture will investigate innovative ways to make funding more accessible for community energy projects, while also continuing to provide direct financial support through the Community Power Fund. This fund is financed through the tariff, and has already made grants to support the ambitions of six community energy groups in the UK. ....
5 February 2021 12:08 GMT Updated 10 February 2021 12:49 GMT The track running through the quiet, typically English countryside between London and the Sussex coast on first view has little in common with India’s sprawling, busy rail network, but Ivan Stone and his colleagues at Riding Sunbeams hope the former can act as test-bed for technology that could help transform the Indian railways. Stone is CEO at Riding Sunbeams, a company that unites the worlds of rail technology and clean energy development with a single purpose – to directly provide traction power to sections of the railways from private-wire renewables, initially solar PV but later quite possibly wind too. ....
Image: Andy Aitchison/Riding Sunbeams. Riding Sunbeams has secured a variety of different funding from both the public purse and private investment this year to help fund its work on developing solar-powered railways. Having the government finace – which is designated for supporting innovation – combined with private funding “is excellent”, Riding Sunbeams’ executive director Ollie Pendered told Solar Power Portal, adding that “until we have a route to market with Network Rail, it’s really essential to have received government funding”. Riding Sunbeams is currently working on developing the route to market for solar-powered railways, with the latest government funding to support the 3.75MW Cuckmere Community Solar Farm, a really important flagship project due to its role in proving this route to market. ....