Co-op trial to encourage local energy use

Energy supplier Co-operative Energy has joined with local energy group Energy Local in a trial of a new home energy management system.

The Swell Project trial will see 50 users in Wiltshire who are already served by the UK’s first community-owned solar farm, the Westmill solar co-operative, participate in the hopes of encouraging local energy use at times of peak demand.

The users will be able to see how much energy they are consuming in real time and the system will also forecast when there will be a peak of locally generated energy available.

The Co-operative said it expects the trial to make people “think about where their energy is coming from and use it when it is in abundance” and said it thinks the trial “will be the start of a new movement within the energy industry that will see local communities taking control of their energy production and usage.”

The home management system will control home appliances and turn them on at the cheapest time of day when the locally-owned energy production is at its peak. The scheme also aims to help to keep energy profits within communities.

The Co-operative said it also expects trial participants to achieve up to a 15 percent reduction in their overall energy usage.

Co-operative Energy’s general manager Ramsay Dunning said: “In the same way that we should be eating local, seasonal fruit to reduce air miles, we should be using local energy when it is available to us.”

“We have partnered with Energy Local to help get this trial off the ground as we’re committed to work within communities and have always put our ethical ethos at the heart of everything we do.”