Community power plays backed

Heather Connon
The Observer,
Sunday September 14 2008

A hydroelectric scheme based on mining works and a plan to sell solar power generated from panels on industrial estates are among the 10 projects to receive £20,000 funding in a scheme designed to encourage community generation schemes.
Three Green Valleys in the Brecon Beacons and the Community Sustainability Trust in Oxford are two of the finalists in the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts' (Nesta) Big Green Challenge. They will use their funding to pilot the projects as they vie for the £1m prize, to be awarded next year. Helen Christie of Nesta said schemes like Gordon Brown's new energy package focused on big business and promoting renewables or green technologies. 'What is overlooked is the role that communities can play in power generation.'
Three Green Valleys aims to build a plant that would provide power for 60 people for 20 years at the same cost as they now spend in one year. In Oxford, the Community Sustainability Trust aims to generate 750,000 kWh of renewable energy a year through solar, water and wind projects.