OVESCO win 2014 Ashden Award for Community Energy
By rob hopkins 23rd May 2014
At last night’s prestigious Ashden Awards in London, the Ouse Valley Energy Services Company (OVESCO for short) won the Community Energy Award in recognition of the group’s work. OVESCO, which grew out of Transition Town Lewes, has become a real force for community energy, starting a number of projects including raising £310,000 from local people to put 554 solar panels on Harvey’s Brewery, and they are now mentoring 10 other local communities in how to do the same.
On winning the award, OVESCO’s Chris Rowland said:
We are very proud to receive this Ashden Award on behalf of solar powered beer at Harveys brewery, our directors, investors and Transition Town Lewes.
We are now mentoring twelve new groups in Sussex, from Chichester to Rye, to help them replicate what we have achieved, and we are working on scaling up our own projects from kWs to MWs.
In my hand, I have a Lewes Pound and printed on this local currency are the words: ‘We have it in our POWER to build the world anew’, Thomas Paine one time Lewes resident.
We want to see a POWER generating revolution in the UK. We believe that community owned energy companies are an essential part in making that happen.
At OVESCO we hope that our success will inspire others to take action in their communities, so that we can build the world anew and community owned renewable energy becomes the new normal.
We believe this is totally possible. Thank you.
Here is a short film the Ashden Awards made about OVESCO to show on the night:
Our huge congratulations to everyone involved.