News

For the first time we live-streamed a number of sessions from our annual conference, which took place in 23-24th April in Oxford. The conference focused on local energy systems in international contexts.

Please see below for links to each of the sessions with details of panel discussions and individual presentations. The times correspond to when in the video contributions take place.

Wednesday 24th April

Morning session – Watch on YouTube

• Keynote address by Councillor Tom Hayes. Time: 0.11.00 – 0.50.19
• Public sector leadership panel discussion. Time: 0.50.19 – 1.51.26
  • Chair: Patrick Allcorn, Head of Local Energy, BEIS
  • Emma Bridge, CEO, Community Energy England
  • Sarah Gilbert, Energy Strategy Manager, Oxfordshire County Council
  • David White, Head of Energy Services, Bristol City Council
  • Councillor Tom Hayes

 

Afternoon session 1 – Watch on Youtube

• Business models for local energy presentations
  • How can intermediaries promote business model innovation: the case of ‘Energiesprong’ whole-house retrofits in the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands – Donal Brown, University of Leeds. Time: 0.01.00 – 0.14.38
  • Business models for the displacement of oil by heat pumps and energy storage in social housing – Osaru Agbonaye, Ulster University. Time: 0.19.18 – 0.31.30
  • Pathways to a thriving community energy sector in the UK – Carly McLachlan and Tim Braunholtz-Speight, University of Manchester. Time: 0.32.05 – 0.45.55
  • Local energy business structures: prospects for reducing energy demand – Mags Tingey, University of Edinburgh. Time: 0.47.05 – 1.00.54
  • Q&A with all presenters. Time: 1.00.54 – 1.22.20

 

 

Afternoon session 2 – Watch on Youtube

• Governance and regulation presentations
  • The changing landscape of local energy governance in England – Sam Hampton, University of Oxford. Time: 0.03.40 – 0.16.52
  • Governance models and low carbon thermal networks – Michael King, District Energy Development Ltd. Time: 0.18.05 – 0.39.53
  • Local government sustainable energy capacities: scale, context and materiality – Jess Britton, University of Exeter. Time: 0.39.57 – 0.55.05
  • Contestability and regulation of local energy systems: lessons from Australia – Ben Shafran, Cambridge Economic Policy Associates. Time: 0.55.10 – 1.11.40
• Panel discussion, engaging citizens and consumers
  • Chair: Katy Roelich, University of Leeds
  • Dr Christina Demski, Lecturer in the School of Psychology, University of Cardiff
  • James Ochiltree, Projects Manager, Low Carbon Hub, Oxford
  • Rajni Nair, Senior Policy Researcher in the Energy Policy Team, Citizens Advice
  • Andrew Hunt, Strategy, Partnerships & Policy Manager (Environment) at Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Q&A with all presenters

 

Thursday 25th April

Morning session 1 – Watch on Youtube

• Workshop: A new framework for energy governance
  • Chair, Rebecca Willis, IGov
  • Catherine Mitchell, IGov
  • Mary Starks, Director of Consumers and Markets, Ofgem
  • Charlotte Ramsay, Programme Director, National Grid Group
  • Guy Newey, Strategy and Performance Director, Energy Systems Catapult

 

Morning session 2 – Watch on YouTube

• Community energy business models
  • Chair: Jim Watson, UKERC
  • Moving community energy in the UK from individual projects towards transformative change – Colin Nolden, University of Bristol
  • Financing community energy: views from the sector – Iain Cairns and Matthew Hannon, University of Strathclyde
  • Financial performance and business models in the UK community energy sector – Maria Sharmina, University of Manchester
  • The promotion of community energy projects in Chile and Scotland: an economic approach using biform games – Fabián Fuentes González, The University of Edinburgh
  • Q&A with all presenters

 

Afternoon session 1 – Watch on YouTube

• Energy demand and flexibility
  • Chair: Carly McLachlan, University of Manchester
  • Energy efficient building retrofitting: national and local government perspectives – Faye Wade, University of Edinburgh
  • The (social) cost and value of flexible demand – Philipp Grunewald, University of Oxford
  • Access project: matching demand to renewable supply on isolated grids – Antonio Mattos, Element Energy
  • Local energy flexibility and householder experiences of smart home batteries and solar PVs in a socially-deprived community – Rajat Gupta, Oxford Brookes University
  • Q&A with all presenters

 

Afternoon session 2 – Watch on YouTube

• Local energy trading
  • Chair: Jan Webb, University of Edinburgh
  • The invisible hand of the local energy market: free-market energy trading in real time – Simon Le Blond, Swanbarton
  • Let’s get real: realist synthesis of evidence on local energy systems – Michael Fell, Unversity College London
  • Regulating peer-to-peer energy trading: what can the UK learn from other countries? – Alexandra Schneiders, Unversity College London
  • Low-carbon energy and business parks: a model for the future – Ingrid Bennett and Andrew Tolfts, Your Energy Sussex
  • Q&A with all presenters