More work will be done on the Archimedes screw, the small wind turbine and the bike generator at our next session on Sunday, March11th.

We hope you enjoy reading it and post any public comments in the space provided below.

Artist's Impression of Kelham Island Hydro

Sheffield’s Kelham Island Hydro project was granted planning permission yesterday. The scheme has been developed by Sheffield Renewables [1] with support from Regeneration Officers at Sheffield City Council and Kelham Island Museum, part of Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust. Gaining planning permission is the first milestone towards installing a new water wheel near Kelham Island Museum.

Rob Pilling, Managing Director at Sheffield Renewables said “The Kelham Island Hydro scheme will bring an iconic renewable energy scheme to this popular site in the heart of the city. The project is driven by local volunteers, inspiring members of the community to contribute their time and work together. Gaining planning permission is a huge boost to our efforts and we are hopeful that we could see a water wheel return to Kelham Island by 2014″.

The Kelham Island Hydro scheme comprises a ‘modern’ water wheel to be located in an existing wheel pit and channel system that was used for water power as far back as the Middle Ages. The replacement wheel will be designed for a flow of 2 tonnes of water per second, generating around 75,000kWh of electricity per year. This is the amount of electricity consumed by about 20 typical family homes [2], providing a saving of around 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year [3]. Alongside generating clean energy, it will be an inspiring attraction, reviving part of Sheffield’s industrial heritage to stimulate interest in renewable energy.

Initially there were some concerns about the plans, expressed by people living nearby, including the design of the protective structure surrounding the wheel. As a community and volunteer led social enterprise, Sheffield Renewables relies upon and values the support of local Sheffield people. They responded to comments by re-designing the protective structure to reduce its height, ensure that its appearance is in keeping with the local area and encourage people to view the wheel as an attractive feature. Gaining planning permission shows that Sheffield City Council and the Environment Agency are happy this and other issues have been satisfactorily addressed.

Sheffield Renewables can now continue to obtain the other permissions and licenses needed to develop Kelham Island Hydro. They gained planning permission for the Jordan Dam Hydro scheme [4], a second water power project near Meadowhall, in March 2011. Jordan Dam Hydro is more advanced, with a Community Share Offer [5] expected later this year. The Community Share Offer will give people and organisations the opportunity to contribute to the half a million pound building costs. Together the two projects highlight the potential for community led renewable energy generation in Sheffield.

Ends

Media Contact Details

Cariad Thomas-Cooke, Project Officer

07951 741 382

Cariad@SheffieldRenewables.org.uk

Editors Notes

[1] Sheffield Renewables is a community and a social enterprise that develops, funds, builds, owns and operates renewable energy schemes. This means that we are run by and for local people and also that we are not-for-proffit. Any surplus money generated is re-invested to support local sustainability. Much of our work is carried out by volunteers, which helps to reduce our costs.

Our schemes will contribute to sity wide efforts to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for increasing local renewable energy provision. We reinforce these direct carbon savings through local outreach, communications and education. Our work also helps to strengthen social cohesion and community resilience by encouraging people to work together and to share a common purpose,as well asby developing community owned assets. In pursuing our aims we work across the city for the benefit of everyone, while giving an additional focus to those areas close to our project sites.

[2] This is based on an average UK household electricity consumption of 3,935kWh per household per year. Provided by the Energy Saving Trust (see their website).

[3] Based on a carbon dioxide emission rate of 0.537kg CO2/kWh of grid generated electricity from The Carbon Trust (see their website).

[4] Jordan Dam Hydro Scheme: Sheffield Renewables’ initial assessment suggests that the scheme might cost around £450,000 to build and could generate around 380MWh/year. Sourcing this much electricity from hydroelectic generation rather than the national grid would save about 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Further information about our ongoing development work at Jordan Dam can be found in the Jordan Dam Hydro project section of our website.

[5] Sheffield Renewables is offering ‘Community Shares’ as a social investment for public spirited and environmentally aware individuals and organisations. The aim is to provide an attractive ethical investment opportunity: investors receive a modest return, complimented by wider social and environmental benefits. The ‘Community Shares’ concept has been developed through a joint initiative of the Development Trusts Association (now Locality) and Co-operatives UK (see their website).

Now that 2012 has begun we’d like to wish you a Happy New ‘International Year of Co-operatives’. Movements such as the global Occupy and national UKUNCUT highlight an increasing interest in ways of doing business that put people before profit. So it’s perfect timing for the United Nations to have declared 2012 International Year of Co-operatives. Throughout the year we will be publishing blog articles on the different ways co-operatives, such as ourselves, help to build a better world.

Sheffield Renewables is all about co-operation, with our progress dependent on our volunteers contributing their time and skills, investors contributing cash and supporters keeping us going, e.g. voting for us in the EnergyShare national funding competition. Alongside our volunteers, our two part-time employees also play an important part in our work.

The co-operative movement as a whole is a significant part of the big picture.  Globally co-operatives employ over 100 million people, and in 1994 the UN estimated that co-operatives make the livelihoods of 3 billion people secure.

We want to enable volunteers to contribute as much as possible towards our activities but hope that we can continue to support this with co-operative Green Jobs.

More information on the International Year of Co-operatives is available on their website.

A BIG thank you to all those who voted for us in the EnergyShare funding competition.  However, at 5pm on Saturday, in spite of all your help, we came SECOND.  This was a very creditable result and we learned a lot from the exercise.  Unfortunately there was no prize for second place.

We were very encouraged that over 3,000 people took the time to help us – many more than we had hoped for -  and pleased that there is so much support for community owned renewable energy in Sheffield.  This should add more weight to our applications for alternative grant funding that we will be actively pursuing.  Hopefully it will also mean more people might be interested in helping when we launch our Community Public Share Offer in the spring.

We will ensure that we keep all our EnergyShare supporters informed of our progress over the coming months.  They will be relieved to know that this will only be a bi-monthly newsletter, rather than the barrage of messages they have received recently.

Many thanks to all of you who put in time to help us increase our vote.  There are too many of you to name you all, but you know who you are and we are most grateful.  However, I must add a special thank you to Cariad, our Project Officer, who made EnergyShare her life for a few weeks, working tirelessly above and beyond the call of duty.

So far over 17,000 people have taken part in EnergyShare [3], a national X-Factor style vote, made possible by British Gas and River Cottage. Surprisingly two Sheffield projects made it into this final stage of the funding competition, in different voting categories. The competition divides community renewable energy projects into three categories large, medium and small depending on the amount of cash they need. Sheffield Renewables is in the large category and Millhouses Mill Buildings is in the small. Yorkshire pride and wider national support have ensured that both Sheffield Renewables and Millhouses Mill Buildings only need to beat one other scheme to win their categories. Local MPs have also added their support.

Both schemes have made impressive progress with Sheffield Renewables in second and Millhouses third in their respective categories. With less than one week to go they are calling for one last push to take them to the top of the leaderboard.

“It has been a great start for both groups with lots of votes being registered for us but we need to get the message as far and wide as possible. We have had support from loads of people, including our local MPs Meg Munn, Nick Clegg and Paul Blomfield providing quotes of support [4], but this last week is vitally important to win the grant. The money could ensure the success of the projects. We have provided links through from our website to make voting as easy as possible and volunteers have made a video and an animation on YouTube to show how the project will work. It is also a great opportunity for two Sheffield projects to co-operate to win cash for South Yorkshire” said Cariad, Project Officer for Sheffield Renewables.

River Cottage’s Hugh Fernley Whittingstall says “We have already seen at energyshare.com communities who through either saving money on their energy bills or creating income through energy generation have reinvigorated community facilities. The funding available is not simply about turbines or solar PV, it’s about enabling people to make their communities more sustainable – both environmentally and economically”

Quick Steps to Vote:
1. Click on this link.
2. Left click on the word ‘Vote’ that is next to ‘Millhouses Park’ or ‘Sheffield Renewables’
3. Follow the instructions that appear.
If you have any problems, further details on the voting process are illustrated here (http://tiny.cc/kntxd), in our photo album hosted on Facebook. You can view this even if you don’t have a Facebook account.
4. If you have not previous registered, check your email and follow the link sent to you by EnergyShare to confirm your vote.
5. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for the scheme you didn’t vote for first time round. This is a lot quicker than the first time if you registered as part of your first vote.
Voting closes 5pm Saturday 3rd December

Voting Incentives

Everyday there is a free prize draw where some people that voted that day win a River Cottage cook book or British Gas home energy efficiency pack which could save upto £125 off your fuel bills each year.

If you use this form to invite three people you know to vote, and they vote, you will be entered into a free prize draw to win an exclusive dinning experience for four at the River Cottage canteen.

Millhouses Mill Buildings

Millhouses mill buildings is a project run jointly by Friends of Millhouses Park
(http://friendsofmillhousespark.org) and Sheffield City Council. The mill buildings site gave Millhouses its name, and there’s been a corn mill on this part of the River Sheaf since the 13th century. Awarded £50,000 Heritage Lottery Funding in April 2011, the group are urgently seeking match funding for their renewable installations as part of the refurbishment work for the small mill building; a 3.78kWp solar PV array (to be installed by local firm Positive Footprint) and ~9kW ground source heat pump would save over .5 tonnes of CO2 per year [5].

Artist's impression of our Jordan Dam Hydro power scheme

If enough people sign up and vote for Sheffield Renewables they will win £100,000 towards Jordan Dam Hydro [6], taking Sheffield a step closer to its first community owned water power scheme. Once up and running Jordan Dam Hydro is expected to generate as much electricity as used by 80 typical family homes [7], saving 170 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year [8]. Any profits generated by selling electricity produced by Jordan Dam Hydro will be used to develop further Sheffield energy projects.

To promote the vote, Sheffield Renewables volunteers have released an online animation, poster, draft email text and tracked the competition’s progress [9]. You can follow both projects on Facebook with Sheffield Renewables also using Twitter. If you get the ‘energyshare bug’ you can track the progress of your favourite schemes on the energyshare website at www.energyshare.com/groups/followers/#listing.

Sheffield Renewables has already raised over £65,000 towards developing Jordan Dam Hydro through an exclusive Community Share offer [10]. The £100,000 from energyshare will give them the grant funding they need for the scheme to go ahead. A public share offer will take place next year, giving everyone a chance to invest and become a member. Loans will be used to cover any shortfall.

ENDS

Media Contact Details

Cariad Thomas-Cooke

cariad@SheffieldRenewables.org.uk

07951 741 382

Editors Notes

[1] Friends of Millhouses Park is a registered charity and works in partnership with Sheffield City Council and South West Community Assembly to provide a Better Park for Everyone. Several new projects have been completed in the park in recent years with funding from (amongst others) Sheffield Town Trust, James Neill Trust Fund, Viridor Landfill Tax Credits, Yorkshire Water and Big Lottery.

[2] Sheffield Renewables is a community and a social enterprise that develops, funds, builds, owns and operates renewable energy schemes. This means that we are run by and for local people and also that we are not-for-profit. Surplus money we earn is re-invested to support local sustainability. Much of our work is carried out by volunteers, which helps to reduce our costs.

Our schemes will contribute to city wide efforts to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for increasing local renewable energy provision. We reinforce these direct carbon savings through local outreach, communications and education. Our work also helps to strengthen social cohesion and community resilience by encouraging people to work together and share a common purpose, as well as by
developing community owned assets. In pursuing our aims we work across the city for the benefit of everyone, while giving an additional focus to those areas close to our project sites.

[3] Energyshare is an initiative by the organisers of River Cottage, Hugh’s Fish Fight, Chicken Out and Landshare. It acknowledges the impact that energy has on everyone’s lives and changing UK attitudes towards energy. They hope to help something really big happen by bringing together people, communities, organisations and the media. This is done through an online community, funding competition made
possible by British Gas and electricity tariff from British Gas (see their website)

[4] Meg Munn, MP for Sheffield Heeley where a Sheffield Renewables office is based said “This project is a great example of how local organisations can work with local people to make a real difference to our environment. I’ve already voted for it and want to give the Sheffield Renewables team my full support for this project.”

Nick Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam said “I have been impressed by the work undertaken by Sheffield Renewables to develop a Community Hydro Electric Plant on the River Don in Sheffield. This initiative – if successful – will benefit the local community by providing it with naturally renewable energy and also will contribute to city wide efforts to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. I hope its bid to Energyshare will be supported by the people of Sheffield.”

Paul Blomfield, MP for Sheffield Central where Sheffield Renewables’ other office is based said “It’s a fantastic project and I really hope you can do it.”

[5] (estimated by our installer, based upon SAP rating); GSHP 9kW installation (estimated by our sustainability consultant Dr Vicki Shaw, using Energy efficiency in buildings, CIBSE Guide, by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, 2004)

[6] More information on Jordan Dam Hydro is available on this Sheffield Renewables webpage. (www.SheffieldRenewables.org.uk)

[7] This is based on an average UK household electricity consumption of 3,935kWh per household per year. Provided by the Energy Saving Trust (see their website) The scheme is expected to generate 310MWh per year.

[8] Based on a carbon dioxide emission rate of 0.537kg CO2/kWh of grid generated electricity from The Carbon Trust (see their website)

[9] Original Sheffield Renewables press release from start of competition (Tuesday 15th November) is available here:
(http://tiny.cc/6u4cd)
Details of the competition and our supporting materials, including an online animation are available here:
(http://tiny.cc/fxj15)
A new youTube video where Sheffield Renewables volunteers talk about the project is available here:
(http://tiny.cc/cyr2h) credit to this must go to Lindsey Young
A series of daily updates tracking the course of the competition is available here:
(http://tiny.cc/n5iru)

[10] Sheffield Renewables is offering ‘Community Shares’ as a social investment for public spirited and environmentally aware individuals and organisations. The aim is to provide an attractive ethical investment opportunity: investors receive a modest return, complemented by wider social and environmental benefits. The ‘Community Shares’ concept has been developed through a joint initiative of the Development Trusts Association (now Locality) and Co-operatives UK (see their website)

Volunteers gathered to help Sheffield Renewables win energyshare (photographer Robert Streeter)

Volunteers filled the room on Tuesday evening, eager to find out more about energyshare and how they could help out. The voting had been going less than 6 hours and Radio Sheffield had already broadcast a call to vote on our behalf.

Once they realised that energyshare could provide £100,000 towards Jordan Dam Hydro (all of the grant funding needed for the project to go ahead), they couldn’t wait to vote. By voting they are helping us generate as much electricity as used by 80 typical family homes and save 170 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. They were keen to know about the following:

How do we vote?
Those who have registered in advance will be pleased to know that energyshare has made voting even easier.

1. Go to www.energyshare.com/voting
2. Left click on the word ‘Vote’ that is next to ‘Sheffield Renewables’
3. Follow the instructions that appear.
If you have any problems, further details on the voting process are illustrated here, in our photo album hosted on Facebook. You can view this even if you don’t have a Facebook account.

Voting closes at 5pm on Saturday 3rd December so we need everyone to make a big effort in a short period of time to stand a chance of winning.

What else can we do?
As with our co-operative, everyone voting on energyshare can only create one account and have one set of votes. This makes it really important for us to get everyone we know to vote too. We have made some promotional materials available below to help:
- Suggested email text is available for downloading and editing here
- Images showing how to vote, step-by-step, for anyone that has problems can be found here
- Poster/hand-outs design that can be downloaded to print or shared online. You can download the image below to print off and use it as an A4 poster here or share online, there’s also a double sided version for anyone that wants to make A5 flyers here (please check with the owner of the space as appropriate).

Please pass on. For paper copies email cariad@sheffieldrenewables.org.uk

- An online animation, hosted on YouTube, for people to upload to websites and share in any way they can think of, can be accessed here and viewed below

- There’s another video of a couple of our volunteers talking about Sheffield Renewables and what we will do with the £100,000 if we win here.

This video is available courtesy of Lyndsey Young
- We will also be providing regular updates via this blog entry, Facebook and Twitter.

Thousands of people will be voting in this competition so we need to get everyone talking about it and voting for Sheffield Renewables to get the cash.

Other Schemes
Another Sheffield based scheme, Millhouses Mill Buildings has got through to this final round. They want a much smaller amount to help them install renewable energy as part of the refurbishment of buildings in Millhouses Park. As they need a lot less cash than us, they are in the small category. The volunteers that live near Millhouses were keen to vote for both and we think it would be great if everyone else did.

We are friends with another project, in the meduim sized category, Tutbury Ecopower. They have been encouraging their voters to vote for Sheffield Renewables so it would be good if our voters returned the favour.

Many of the volunteers left with ideas of people to start sharing the excitement with. We hope you’ll join us in voting and possibly even catch the ‘energyshare bug’.

Thank-you in advance for your vote and support!

Artists impression of Jordan Dam Hydro with energyshare logo

Everyone has an opportunity to support renewable energy on the River Don in Sheffield by taking part in a national X-Factor style vote. Local social enterprise, Sheffield Renewables [1], has been awarded a place in the final energyshare [2] vote, made possible by British Gas and River Cottage and starting today.

River Cottage’s Hugh Fernley Whittingstall says “We have already seen at energyshare.com communities who through either saving money on their energy bills or creating income through energy generation have reinvigorated community facilities. The funding available is not simply about turbines or solar PV, it’s about enabling people to make their communities more sustainable – both environmentally and economically”

Quick Steps to Vote:
1. Go to www.energyshare.com/voting
2. Left click on the word Vote that is next to ˜Sheffield Renewables
3. Follow the instructions that appear.
If you have any problems, further details on the voting process are illustrated here, in our photo album hosted on Facebook. You can view this even if you don’t have a Facebook account.

If enough people sign up and vote for Sheffield Renewables they will win £100,000 towards Jordan Dam Hydro [3], taking Sheffield a step closer to its first community owned water power scheme. Once up and running Jordan Dam Hydro is expected to generate as much electricity as used by 80 typical family homes [4], saving 170 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year [5]. Any profits generated by selling electricity produced by Jordan Dam Hydro will be used to develop further energy projects.

Director Mark Wells said ‘We would encourage everyone to vote for Sheffield by registering support and voting for us. It is a free and easy way for people to get involved, helping to develop local renewable energy schemes. This project is driven by the enthusiasm and time contributed by our volunteers. So winning it would be an excellent way for the wider community to support them.’

This first energyshare funding competition has proved very popular throughout the country. The competition divides community renewable energy projects into three categories large, medium and small with Sheffield Renewables in the large category. Sheffield residents can also vote for Millhouses Mill Buildings [6], another local project based in Millhouses Park, in the small category. To promote the vote, volunteer Matt Hilton is producing an online animation and poster. Both of these will be freely available via the Sheffield Renewables website, www.SheffieldRenewables.org.uk, before the end of the week

Project Officer Cariad Thomas-Cooke said ‘Our supporters generated a hive of activity ensuring we got through the first round. It culminated in an excited office typing well into the night, trying to keep up with frantic activity on Facebook, Twitter and texts from people determined to get Sheffield Renewables enough supporters registered on the site. If this final round is anything like it, it’s a great feeling as the deadline approaches and more people get involved.’

If you get the ‘energyshare bug’ you can track the progress of your favourite schemes on the energyshare website at www.energyshare.com/groups/followers/#listing. Sheffield Renewables is currently the third most popular in the competition, with about 750 supporters. They need everyone to help them compete with Bradford ecoPower who has over 1200 supporters. Voting is open until 3^rd December. It could be a very different picture in a fortnight’s time, especially if you add your support.

Sheffield Renewables has already raised over £65,000 towards developing Jordan Dam Hydro through an exclusive Community Share offer [7]. The £100,000 from energyshare will give them the grant funding they need for the scheme to go ahead. A public share offer will take place next year, giving everyone a chance to invest and become a member. Loans will be used to cover any shortfall.

ENDS

[1] Sheffield Renewables is a community and a social enterprise that develops, funds, builds, owns and operates renewable energy schemes. This means that we are run by and for local people and also that we are not-for-profit. Surplus money we earn is re-invested to support local sustainability. Much of our work is carried out by volunteers, which helps to reduce our costs.

Our schemes will contribute to city wide efforts to meet targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for increasing local renewable energy provision. We reinforce these direct carbon savings through local outreach, communications and education. Our work also helps to strengthen social cohesion and community resilience by encouraging people to work together and share a common purpose, as well as by developing community owned assets. In pursuing our aims we work across the city for the benefit of everyone, while giving an additional focus to those areas close to our project sites.

[2] Energyshare is an initiative by the organisers of River Cottage, Hugh’s Fish Fight, Chicken Out and Landshare. It acknowledges the impact that energy has on everyone’s lives and changing UK attitudes towards energy. They hope to help something really big happen by bringing together people, communities, organisations and the media. This is done through an online community, funding competition made possible by British Gas and electricity tariff from British Gas (see their website)

[3] More information on Jordan Dam Hydro is available on this Sheffield Renewables webpage.

[4] This is based on an average UK household electricity consumption of 3,935kWh per household per year. Provided by the Energy Saving Trust (see their website) The scheme is expected to generate 310MWh per year.

[5] Based on a carbon dioxide emission rate of 0.537kg CO2/kWh of grid generated electricity from The Carbon Trust (see their website)

[6] For more information on Millhouses mill buildings see their energyshare project page.

[7] Sheffield Renewables is offering Community Shares as a social investment for public spirited and environmentally aware individuals and organisations. The aim is to provide an attractive ethical investment opportunity: investors receive a modest return, complemented by wider social and environmental benefits. The Community Shares concept has been developed through a joint initiative of the Development Trusts Association (now Locality) and Co-operatives UK (see their website)

The August 2011 Newsletter can be downloaded here.

We hope you enjoy reading it and post any public comments in the space provided below.

Below are brief daily updates of our progress in the energyshare national funding competition. If we are the most popular group in our category when voting closes, 5pm on Saturday 3rd December we will win £100,000 towards developing Jordan Dam Hydro. Everyone can register with energyshare and vote for us in a few minutes. You can check out the latest rankings for the groups here.

Wednesday 23rd November

Things are starting to pick up pace as we approach half way through the voting period. Almost 15,000 people have voted so far and we’ve maintained our share of 22%. Hexham have lost another 0.1% taking them to 26.3%.  Hexham are a partnership of organisations that have developed other projects in their area, possibly a reason for their wide support base. In contrast our Jordan Dam Hydro project is more advanced, thanks to our dedicated volunteers we already have planning permission and we’ve raised over £65,000 towards development costs.

Our neighbours at Millhouses Mill Buildings  are also holding steady, in third place in their category. As two groups can win at their level (unlike only one at ours) they just need 4% more to become a joint winner. Above them there has been little change, with North Devon Hospice and Shrewsbury Hydro at 26% and 20% respectively.

In Tutbury there are rumours that the energyshare word may be spreading behind the scene although publicly they remain at 11% of the votes, leaving them in 4th place. They’ve got a big challenge ahead to gain the 20% needed to catch up with leaders at the affectionately named Scout Hut. Once through to the final they appear to have decided to upgrade their name to ‘Old Basing Baden Powell Centre for Scouts and Guides – Renewable Energy Centre’, a bit of a mouthful so we’ll hope they don’t mind us sticking with Scout Hut.

With only 9 days left until voting closes, the winning schemes will rely on everyone involved ‘doing their bit’ to get more people voting for them. *fingers crossed* Yorkshire residents and our more distant friends will join in to lend a hand.

Tuesday 22nd November
The sense of optimism around our chances of winning the competition continues as Hexham lost a  bit more of their percentage, taking them to 26.4%. We are maintaining our 22% so more votes will definitely be needed. Our position of 2nd place is consistent as our closest competitors, The Hub Lyme Regis, have lost a percent, taking them to 16%. Unfortunately one one scheme can get the £100,000 so we need lots and lots of votes.

Elsewhere in Sheffield Millhouses Mill Buildings and their competitors Shrewsbury Hydro and North Devon Hospice seem to have stagnated at 17%, 20& and 26% respectively. Two schemes in this category can win so if all our voters voted for Millhouses as well they should be in with a chance of the cash we need. It is a lot easier to vote the second time round!

Strange to think that in less than a fortnight this will all be over.  Please keep encouraging everyone you know to vote and spread the word. Winning would be a great boost for out city.

Monday 21st November
Thanks to all your voting and spreading the word we are starting to make an impact. We increased our share of the votes by 1% today, taking us to 22%. Our biggest rivals, Hexham, lost 0.8% so we only need 4% to beat them.

Our friends at Millhouses Mill Buildings, in Sheffield’s Millhouses park, are holding there own at 17% but need more support to be one of the top two winners in their category (unlike our category where only one group can win). Their closest rivals have 20%.

There’s been little change for our friends at Tutbury. Their medium category seems to have been dominated by competition between Old Basing Baden Powell ‘Scout Hut’ and Portobello & Leith Community Wind project. The popularity of a wind project may surprise some people.

With 11 days to go, there’s still plenty of time for things to change so every vote can help make a difference.

Sunday 20th November
We’ve had lots of new supporters, 1469 altogether so far. Not all of these people have voted. If they do it could make a big difference. Hexham Hydro have started to loose a little ground, now at 27.2%. If we keep growing and growing our voters we should be able to overtake them in the next 12 days. The Hub Lyme Regis are maintaining their 17%. Below them, in fourth position is Harbury Energy Initiative, then Greater Manchester Carbon Co-op. Last but not least is Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network.

In the small category there has been little change. Millhouses Mill Buildings have maintained their 17%, whilst their closest competition, joint leaders Shrewsbury Hydro, have still got 20%. Two groups can win this category and so far, with 27% of the votes, North Devon Hospice seem guaranteed a place.

Things aren’t looking so good for our friends at Tutbury, who are still in 4th place with 12%. Old Basing Baden Centre for Scouts are battling hard against Portobello and Leith Community Wind Project for the top spot. With 12 days left to vote, hopefully there will be a stroke of good luck for Tutbury.

Voting has been open for just over 5 days so theres still time for everything to change before voting closes at 5pm on Satruday 3rd December.

Saturday 19th November
Our share of the votes has decreased to 21% despite more people voting today. Hexham River Hydro and The Hub Lyme Regis appear to have maintained the same proportion of votes at 27.4% and 17% respectively. We need a big spurt of new voters to gain the extra 6% needed to overtake Hexham River Hydro. Hopefully everyone will encouarge lots of new people to vote for us!

In the small category, our friends at Millhouses Mill Buildings have maintained there share at 17%. Unfortunately Shrewsbury Hydro has gained a higher proportion of voters today so Millhouses now need 4% more of hte votes. If they can win they will use the cash to instal renewable energy technologies on the buildings they are refurbishing in Sheffield’s Millhouses Park.

It’s also not looking so good in the medium category. Our friends at Tutbury are down to 12% of the vote. Hopefully they will be able to get alot more voters over the next week.

There’s just under two weeks left until voting closes so plenty of time to make a big difference to the ratings. Please spare a few minutes to spread the word. More votes for Sheffield Renewables could make all of the difference and ensure Sheffield gains it’s first community owned renewable energy scheme.

Friday 18th November
We’ve gained 1% of the vote today thanks to people helping to spread the word. We now have 22% whilst Hexham River Hydro has  fallen a bit to 27.4%.

In the small category, our friends at Millhouses Mill Buildings have maintained there share at 17%. Unfortunately Shrewsbury Hydro has gained 1% so they need more support to help them catch up and get the cash they need for renewable energy technologies on the buildings they are refurbishing in Sheffield’s Millhouses Park.

In the medium category Portobello and Leith Community Wind Project overtook Old Basingdon Baden Powel Scout Hut.. showing that if we all try to get people to vote it could be a very different picture by the end the month. Our friends at Tutbury are in 4th place, 18% behind the top group. Hopefully things will start to impvore for them soon.

So much could change over the next fortnight, your votes and anything you do to encourage other people to vote could make all the difference. We’d have all the grant funding we need to build Sheffield’s first community owned renewable energy scheme if we won the £100,000 from energyshare.

Wednesday 17th November
Over eight and a half thousand people have voted so far. Sheffield Renewables has 21% of this, putting us in second place behind Hexam River Hydro who have 28%. In third place is The Hub Lyme Regis with 17%. Earlier today EnergyShare told us that over 500 of our supporters haven’t voted yet. Supporting is not the same as voting and 500 more votes might put us into the lead.

In the small category Millhouses Mill buildings, based in Sheffield’s Millhouses Park, are the third most poular group with 17%.Only just ahead of them, in second place, is Shrewsbury Hydro with 18%. Two groups can win this category so a few more percent of the votes could give them a chance at the cash.

Our friends in Tutbury are not doing so well. They are in fourth place with only 12%.

Sheffield Renewables needs to start catching up with Hexham Hydro soon to ensure we have a chance of winning. Publicity materials have been launched today and we need everyone to vote and spread the word if the £100,000 is to enable Sheffield’s first community owned renewable energy project.

Tuesday 15th November
What an busy day for the office team! Energyshare were unable to make the vote live until lunchtime, giving us only a few hours to get used to the new website sturcture, voting process, squeeze in a quick interview with Radio Sheffeld and get everything ready for our ‘energyshare special’ volunteer discussion night. Unfortunately finishing off all our publicity materials was beyond our capacity, but we are determined to get back on track tomorrow!

Despite the set backs, we are in second place with 20% of the votes in our category. Hexam River Hydro is currently beating us with 6.9% more votes. 2,792 people have voted so far so anything you can do to encourage everyone you know vote, once publicity materials are available, will be a great help. More info tomorrow….

Monday 14th November
Finishing touches are being made to our publicity materials and plans, ready for voting opening tomorrow. We know that we are competing against 5 other groups in our category, though they have not yet been officially named. So far we’ve signed up about 750 supporters making us the fourth most popular group. We will need each of our energyshare supporters to take the extra step and vote. If through to the vote, our biggest competition appears to be Bradford ecoPower with 1255 supporters. We will need all the help we can get over the next few weeks.