CoRE Network

Berwick upon Tweed in Northumberland has won up to £500,000 in a competition to become a blueprint for sustainable living.

Berwick is one of the first ten winning locations to benefit from a £10million fund as part of the Low Carbon Communities Challenge.

Around a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from heating, lighting and powering electrical appliances in homes. By 2050 this needs to be almost zero if the UK is to cut its emissions by 80%, highlighting the importance of local action.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) launched the competition in July to find communities keen to be at the forefront of moving to a low carbon economy.

CoRE meets with Tory Shadow Ministers 

Community Renewable Energy has had a special meeting with senior Conservative politicians to discuss their forthcoming climate change policy. 

The meeting was held in the Houses of Parliament on 4 November with Greg Clark MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and Nick Hurd, Shadow Minister (Charities, Social Enterprise and Volunteering). Leaders from five other social enterprises (businesses that have a social purpose) from across the UK also attended along with the Social Enterprise Coalition. 

“It was a fascinating meeting and we were impressed by the Shadow Minister’s grasp of the issues,'' stated Keith Richardson, Chair of CoRE, “they understood the value of our approach which is about ensuring that local people have a stake in renewable energy systems and benefit from them.” 

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Climate Change and Energy has announced the Award winners in the Big Green Challenge Plus.

He said “I was impressed by the quality of the shortlisted projects – and heartened to see so many people and groups across the country showing real initiative and ingenuity in their approaches. We want to support people in their efforts so they can reap the benefits of cleaner energy, a better quality of life, and stronger, cohesive communities.

”Community Renewable Energy (CoRE) has received the award of £20,000, plus a tailored package of support, as part of NESTA’s Big Green Challenge.

The first training course to help communities understand how they can develop their own green renewable energy systems is being developed by CoRE as a result of a successful bid to the Big Lottery’s Awards for All fund. 

Go to the Community Renewables Champions Training page for more information.

The first of three courses will start in October '09 and will be held in Newcastle. Anyone interested in participating should contact Val Tobiass at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 01289 309669. 

The Cross-Border Community Energy Conference was held at Marshall Meadows Hotel in Berwick-upon-Tweed on 27 October 2008.

Over 80 people attended the conference, which had speakers from the Renewable Energy sector from both North and South of the Scottish/English Border.  

CoRE Network Meetings Presentations

To view presentations of the speakers from previous CoRE Network Meetings go to Document Download. Presentations include Graham Hillier, Director New Energy, Centre for Process Innovation; Caroline Season from Defra and Mark Jennison from Energy4All.

“We were very excited to be one of 21 projects invited to pitch to become one of 10 finalists competing for the £1 million prize,” said Keith Richardson, Chair of CoRE, “with odds of 50:50 and a very strong and innovative project that does not just advise community groups but works with them as partners, we think we stand a great chance of winning through.”

CoRE is a social enterprise, a business with a social purpose, that works in a highly innovative way. It aims to make money out of the renewable energy systems it sets up with communities. This money is used by the community to fund local activities and by CoRE to fund support for more communities.

CoRE is working with communities across the North East. It has set up BioCoRE, which will set up Combined Heat and Power Systems using vegetable oil and other biomass. Its first system will be in the Linskill Community Centre, North Shields. In Berwick, CoRE is working with Berwick Community Trust to put up an 800kWh wind turbine which will generate over £4 million profit over its lifetime. It is involved in setting up a wood fired District Heating System Middleton in Teesdale. It is also working with the Teesdale Village Hall Consortium and a number of other community groups across the North East.

The first round of the Big Green Challenge received over 350 applications. In the second round the most promising 100 were invited to submit detailed proposals. Of these 21, and only one from the North East, have been invited to pitch to become finalists. Each of the ten finalists will receive an award of £20,000 and will work with NESTA throughout 2009 to compete for a £1 million prize fund. The Big Green Challenge is organised by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).

“We are preparing our pitch for presentation to the NESTA Judges on 15 July in London,” added Keith, “we will be nervous, but the thought of a £1 million is a big incentive and will transform what we can achieve!”

CoRE is a national pilot programme funded by Regional Development Agency One North East.Anyone interested in finding out more or who wants to set up their own community owned renewable energy system is welcome to join the CoRE Network.

To join or find out more please contact Ross Weddle, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , tel. 01289 309669 or go to www.core.coop.

Press contacts for further information:Ross Weddle, CoRE Manager on 07758800650
Keith Richardson, CoRE Chair on 07951935235
Websites www.core.coop 
www.corecoop.net
www.biggreenchallenge.org.uk/big-green-challengers

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