€300k Allocated in Government Funding to Empower Community Groups in Renewable Energy Projects

A project led by the Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI) has secured almost 300K in funding under the new innovative ‘Energy Research Projects’ scheme announced by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten T.D.

‘Support Tools for Community Renewable Energy’ is one of 45 SEAI funded Research, Development and Demonstration projects which aim to develop solutions that will help homes, businesses and communities in Ireland to deliver a cleaner energy future.

According to the project’s Principal Investigator, MaREI Research Fellow, Dr. Cian Desmond, “This is a multidisciplinary undertaking which draws on expertise from across University College Cork and UCC spin-out Exceedence Ltd. Together we aim to deliver an online tool which will empower community groups to self-organise, plan, finance and develop their own renewable energy projects.

The software will be co-developed with 3 rural and 3 urban communities to ensure that it meets their expectations in terms of functionality and transparency. Renewable energy developments are a viable business opportunity for community groups and particularity those in rural areas. We hope that by providing the tools necessary to asses and develop these opportunities we can kick-start the development of community renewable energy projects.”

Dr Ray Alcorn, CEO Exceedence Ltd said “We have been working with Dr. Desmond for some time on this concept and this is great news.  We are delighted to be involved in the project and bring our experience of building web-based renewable energy tools.   We believe that the transparency and key metrics that we can bring to the process will empower communities and catalyse a new generation of community-owned energy developments.”