Report on Renewable Energies Prosperous Communities

Introduction
Good Energies Alliance Ireland (GEAI) had its beginning in the grassroots campaign against fracking
in Ireland. It was founded in 2011 and incorporated in 2012. In the past 18 months, with growing
global attention on climate change, it became clear to us that we had to focus on the potential of
renewable energies to combat climate change, reduce carbon emissions and become more energy
efficient.
At the same time, GEAI became more involved with the Erasmus+ Programme, using it to fund highcapacity volunteers from all over Europe to come to experience life in Ireland and to help us in our
work. At present we have three volunteers and aim to host a fourth early in 2016. We have found
these volunteers to be a remarkable resource, assisting us technically and making a huge
contribution to the work we are doing.
In the past year GEAI has developed a new website, established very active Facebook and Twitter
accounts and published numerous blogs on the subjects of renewable energies, climate change and
fracking. In addition we have published a position paper on wind energy, which outlined the
potential benefits of community owned wind energy projects or projects with community buy-in.
Following this publication, it became clear to us that communities have little awareness of the
potential of renewable energies for their economic as well as their environmental futures. We
choose Manorhamilton as a pilot study since that town has been at the heart of the campaign
against fracking. We decided to do an energy audit of the town and to organise a day where the
results of the audit would be published and a few speakers would give an overview of the situation
regarding energy futures in Ireland and in communities. However, we also made the decision to
engage the community as much as possible in short workshops and discussions so that they could
feel ownership of the subjects discussed.

The following Programme was followed

Session 1

Challenges and Opportunities

9.30 11.00 am

Introduction

Aedn McLoughlin

Challenges and opportunities facing us globally and locally

Eamon Ryan

A remarkable wind energy project in Neilston, Scotland

Pauline Gallacher

Manorhamilton now energy use (results of energy audit)

Irina Tiugan and

Olga Zoma

Community Energy Cooperatives

Cormac Walsh

Session 2

11.30 1.00 pm

Exhibitions with short demonstrations/talks

Wind energy Are wind turbines to be welcomed or opposed?

Irina Tiugan

Solar energy the prospects for communities

Leslie OHora

Hydro energy Is there a future for micro hydro turbines?

Seamus Dunbar

Biomass energy The potential for woody biomass in Manorhamilton

Olga Zoma

Session 3

Round table discussions (World Caf format)

2.00 3.30 pm

Facilitator: Chris Chapman

The participants discussed three questions in sequence:
1. What is your vision for a prosperous and sustainable community?
2. What is exciting you about this day and this conference?
3. What needs to happen in the next six months?

Plenary Session and Report from Discussions

3.45 4.15 pm

Participants were also asked to fill in an exit poll which included:

I WANT TO:

Be kept informed by email

Yes / No

Attend another meeting about this in Manorhamilton

Yes /No

Join a core group to start working on making renewables the future for the area

Yes / No

Become a member of a future Community Energy Cooperative in Manorhamilton

Yes / No

Attendance
Over 80 people attended, including Local Counsellors, Council officials, members of political parties,
members of local community groups and of environmental groups nationally, representatives of
commercial interests in Manorhamilton, members of Leitrim PPN and LCDC, and local media.
The format was successful in that it engaged everyone throughout the day and encouraged them to
have a voice in the discussions. The short workshops were a good idea, since a lot of information
was disseminated in a short period of time. The world caf discussion was really successful despite
being held after lunch, everyone really engaged in the discussion and a lot of ideas were put
forward.

Results
The question on what was exciting the attendees drew the following answers:
44% were excited about local or community ownership of their own energy future
10.5% were most excited about the potential of biomass
10.5% were most excited about the future for energy efficiency
The rest were interested in solar (8%), wind (5%), the formation of energy cooperatives (8%),
political action (8%) and sundry

The question of what needs to be done in the next six months produced very varied answers.
These included:
1. Form a group or small cooperative
2. Work from ground up, access funding, involve politicians
3. Do more research
4. Work with advisory groups, e.g. LEADER, Crest (Enniskillen), Tipperary Energy Agency
5. More workshops, looking at structures, look for investment by community

6. Engage in community consultation and develop a plan

7. Do small project first to engage interest by the community
8. Retain a percentage of property tax for development of local infrastructure (solar, Biomass
etc.)
9. Set up a wood producers cooperative

The result of the exit poll was that:

The majority want to be kept informed by email.

29 people said that they would attend another meeting on renewable energies.
14 people said that they were willing to join a core group to start working on making
renewables the future for the area.
14 people said that they would be willing to become a member of a future Community
Energy Cooperative in Manorhamilton.

Next Steps

A meeting is being organised of those interested in being members of the core group for
the week starting 21st September. Also included in the invitation are those interested
but who couldnt come to the event on 24th June.
Whereas GEAI will facilitate the first meeting, the aim is to facilitate ownership of the
project by local people. In particular, to identify a champion
The focus of the meeting will be on desired outcomes, e.g. forming an energy
cooperative, doing research, developing a plan.
Consideration will be given to engaging someone to speak at a future meeting who has
relevant expertise, e.g. a representative of Tipperary Energy Agency