Social Enterprises in Community Renewable Energy

Programme 2007 - 2013 Northern Periphery

Date of latest update: 2021-04-06

Description

Description (EN):

SECRE is a transnational network of renewable energy and social business expertise in Northern Periphery. SECRE works for social enterprises. Social enterprises provide significant amount of net profit to fulfill social goals or invest to own business to enhance social impact. SECRE challenges renewable energy businesses and communities to find and define social goals in the field of renewable energy. SECRE is a strong consortium, which allocates knowledge and resources of the powerful network for needs of Northern European communities in renewable energy production. Renewable Energy In Northern Periphery, renewable energy production is mostly consisting of wind, solar, biomass, wood and hydro energy solutions. In the very northern and rural Europe people are tend to have collective sight for mutual benefits. These communities have the ability to meet the energy need by utilizing the local resources with modern technology and knowledge of SECRE partners. SECRE partners will bring out the potential of communities and social economy by creating a multiple amount of business models for rural community energy production. Synopsis: Social enterprises play a pivotal role in the rural and urban regeneration of the NPP regions. As such it is essential that they are in a position to maximise the opportunities and challenges afforded by renewable energy. SECRE will develop and implement a sustainable service encouraging the uptake of renewable energy activities within social enterprises. The work of the NPP renewable energy cluster has shown that social enterprises face issues such as lack of knowledge transfer, problems developing realistic business models, major funding issues and lack of long term technical support. The strategic SECRE service will, during the project phase, provide appropriate support for social enterprises through the triple helix model. Aim & Objectives: The main objective of SECRE is to develop a long term sustainable service for social enterprises in the area of renewable energy. A social enterprise and community renewable energy knowledge base will be established that contains both data and information on items such as: Business Models Implementation plans Funding schemes Business cases Training material Advisory services Lobbying opportunities To help populate the knowledge base a series of in-depth case studies will be undertaken in the area of renewable energy in social enterprises. These case studies will help identify best practice and provide insights into the topologies and frameworks needed for successful establishment of the knowledge base. To develop effective lobbying and dissemination, an audit of support and policy structures in NPP regions will be undertaken. This will build on work already started in other NPP renewable energy projects. An e-service will be developed using standard decision support tools that builds on the information gathered when establishing the renewable energy knowledge base. A SECRE advisory service will be developed to support the e-service and provide face to face support and advice.

Achievements (EN):

To promote the usage and generation of renewable energy, the EU has financed a number of projects. Multiple documents, videos and tools which may be useful to renewable energy investors haver been produced. SECRE has collected this information and stored it in one easily searchable tool, which is freely available to use here. The use of renewable and sustainable energy can create new businesses and help solving the local and global problems. There are various ways to enhance communities’ welfare in rural areas. Explore the dreams and find your way: www.commonpower.eu

Website: http://www.northernperiphery.eu/en/home/

Expected Results (EN):

The open-access SECRE service will consist of consultation, training and advisory components to help new and existing organisations in effective decision making models for the reinvestment strategy of RE revenue as a consequence of the community renewable energy initiatives. The business consultation, training and advisory service will be offered in different aspects of social enterprises, associated business strategies and re-investment models. A technological aspect will be also included to address the specific technological needs of social enterprises (in detail WP5 task 5.2) The service will provide models to maximise local benefits of RES and improve local capacities via the proposed training and advisory services. It will be based on a mix of self-help measures and active attendance of advisors where appropriate, and will employ an inclusive approach: It will provide access to “coaching services”, on-site visits to available examples of successful RES, peer-to-peer discussions in the joint organisation, and will provide support for business incubation endeavours, with detailed business planning of alternative models for social enterprises. The SECRE service will be provided for the main target groups of social enterprises in remote rural areas who are operating, or aspiring to operate in the area of community renewable energy. End-beneficiaries are communities and social enterprises that need cost-efficient and sustainable community solutions and business models that will enhance their abilities to generate more local income, profits and employment

Thematic information

ICT and digital society Clustering and economic cooperation Renewable energy

Partners (13)

Lead Partner: North Karelia University of Applied Sciences

Address: FIN-80100 Joensuu, Finland

Legal status: n/a

Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Unit

Name: Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Unit

Address: 80101 Joensuu, Finland

Legal status: n/a

Municipal Federation of Savonia University of Applied Sciences

Name: Municipal Federation of Savonia University of Applied Sciences

Address: 70201 Kuopio, Finland

Legal status: n/a

Sogn og Fjordane University College

Name: Sogn og Fjordane University College

Address: 6851 Sogndal, Norway

Legal status: n/a

West Regional Authority (WRA)

Name: West Regional Authority (WRA)

Address: Galway, Ireland

Legal status: n/a

Nýsköpunarmiðstöð Íslands

Name: Nýsköpunarmiðstöð Íslands

Address: 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

Legal status: n/a

Sogn og Fjordane Science Park

Name: Sogn og Fjordane Science Park

Address: 6856 Sogndal, Norway

Legal status: n/a

Center for Arktisk Teknologi

Name: Center for Arktisk Teknologi

Address: 3911 Sisimiut, Greenland

Legal status: n/a

BioFuel Region

Name: BioFuel Region

Address: 903 25 Umea, Sweden

Legal status: n/a

Action Renewables

Name: Action Renewables

Address: BT12 6QH Belfast, United Kingdom

Legal status: n/a

University of Ulster, Coleraine

Name: University of Ulster, Coleraine

Address: BT52 1SA Coleraine, United Kingdom

Legal status: n/a

Community Energy Scotland

Name: Community Energy Scotland

Address: IV15 9XL Dingwall, United Kingdom

Legal status: n/a

Lews Castle College /UHI, Engineering Department

Name: Lews Castle College /UHI, Engineering Department

Address: HS2 0XR Stornoway, United Kingdom

Legal status: n/a

Partners map

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Social Enterprises in Community Renewable Energy

Project acronym: SECRE

Project start date: 2011-09-01

Project end date: 2014-02-28

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 2 194 728.77

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 536 136.39

Co-financing sources:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2007 - 2013 Northern Periphery

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2015-12-01

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

47 / 47 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

331 / 331 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the programme and collected from programme's website

Languages

Contact Form

Social Enterprises in Community Renewable Energy

Description

Thematic information

Partners (13)

Partners map

Summary

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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